The SD Supreme Court handed down one decision this morning,
holding inter alia:
1) Day County permitted to
tax non-Indians on Indian Trust land
Summary follows:
PICKEREL LAKE et. al. v. DAY COUNTY, SOUTH DAKOTA, 2020 S.D.
72: This dispute involves a challenge to
taxes assessed by Day County, involving the issue of whether federal law
concerning Indian land preempts the ability of the County to tax. The dispute and the results in the lower
court and in the SD Supreme Court are described in the 1st paragraph
of the Court’s opinion:
[¶1.] The
Pickerel Lake Outlet Association, a South Dakota domestic nonprofit
corporation, and forty non-Indian owners of permanent improvements around
Pickerel Lake (the Plaintiffs) filed a declaratory judgment action in circuit
court challenging ad valorem property taxes that Day County assessed against
them. They claimed that federal law preempted taxation because their structures
are on land held in trust for the Sisseton–Wahpeton Oyate. The State defended
the taxes and challenged the Plaintiffs’ standing to sue. The circuit court
concluded the Plaintiffs had standing and upheld the disputed taxes. The
Plaintiffs appeal. We affirm.
This opinion runs 21 pages, with the Court ultimately
concluding in ¶36:
The
Plaintiffs have satisfied all the prerequisites for standing. Further, the County is neither explicitly nor
implicitly preempted by the provisions of [25 U.S.C.] § 5108 from assessing ad
valorem taxes against the Plaintiffs.
This decision is unanimous (5-0), with opinion authored by
Justice Kern.
This decision may be accessed at
http://ujs.sd.gov/Supreme_Court/opinions.aspx .
