Palouse Chief Challenges Tribal Land Taxation
Chief Wolf travels to Washington D.C. to protest state seizure of his horses over unpaid taxes on disputed land.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Chief Wolf, of the Palouse tribe, is in Washington D.C. trying to have the government take some action regarding the taxation of his lands by the state of Washington. Wolf occupies lands in Washington, and the state authorities have taken his ponies on his refusal to pay the taxes assessed against him. The Indian bureau says that if he is living on lands separated from the tribe the tax is legal, but if he belongs to a wandering tribe of Indians the government will probably look into the matter to see if he is unjustly taxed.
“The Indian bureau says that if he is living on lands separated from the tribe the tax is legal, but if he belongs to a wandering tribe of Indians the government will probably look into the matter.”
The collision between state taxation, federal jurisdiction, and tribal sovereignty defined much of the legal landscape in the Washington Territory and early statehood period, reflecting issues that still shape tribal-state relations today.
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