The South Dakota Supreme Court has upheld a county court ruling that Day County’s property taxes may be levied on Pickerel Lake properties that are on trusteeship tribal land.
The question was part of a lawsuit filed in 2014 by members of the Pickerel Lake Outlet Association. Each of these owners has structures on the west side of Lake Pickerel, according to a Supreme Court ruling filed in December.
The land itself is entrusted to Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate and leased from the Pickerel Lake Outlet Association. None of the owners of the lake are members of the tribe, but everyone pays the tribe ad valorem property taxes for the structures on the land. Day County also assesses property taxes.
The plaintiffs in this case objected to the county property taxes following the ruling by the state Supreme Court. Some refused to pay taxes from 2013, others paid in protest.
The South Dakota Codified Law allows property taxes to be paid in protest, giving the owner the opportunity to file a civil lawsuit against the validity of those taxes.
The crux of the lawsuit filed challenged the county’s ability to assess property taxes. Property owners argued the county could not do so because the land was exempt from taxation under a provision of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 as well as regulations of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, land acquired under that act is exempt from state and local taxation. However, according to court records, it is not known whether the land was acquired under India’s 1934 Reorganization Act.
The lawsuit also argued that the South Dakota Constitution provided for taxes with the Enabling Act of 1889. That law admitted South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, and Washington to the United States and contained a provision that provided a disclaimer of land and jurisdiction for Native American countries.
However, upon review of the law, the Supreme Court found that the language in this law affects land held by Native Americans, and not permanent structures owned by non-Native Americans.
The county denied that the non-exemption claim was inapplicable because neither the tribe nor a member of the tribe owned any of the county’s taxable cabins.
While the Supreme Court agreed that plaintiffs could bring charges in this case, the judges also agreed that the county had the authority to collect taxes.
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