McClanahan v. Arizona State Tax Commission

McClanahan v. Arizona State Tax Comm'n, 411 U.S. 164 (1973), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States holding that Arizona has no jurisdiction to impose a tax on the income of Navajo Indians residing on the Navajo Reservation and whose income is wholly derived from reservation sources.[1]

McClanahan v. Arizona State Tax Comm'n
Argued December 12, 1972
Decided March 27, 1973
Full case nameMcClanahan v. Arizona State Tax Commission
Citations411 U.S. 164 (more)
93 S. Ct. 1257; 36 L. Ed. 2d 129; 1973 U.S. LEXIS 89
Case history
PriorMcClanahan v. State Tax Commission, 484 P.2d 221 (Ariz. App. Div. 1 1971).
Holding
Arizona has no jurisdiction to impose a tax on the income of Navajo Indians residing on the Navajo Reservation and whose income is wholly derived from reservation sources.
Court membership
Chief Justice
Warren E. Burger
Associate Justices
William O. Douglas · William J. Brennan Jr.
Potter Stewart · Byron White
Thurgood Marshall · Harry Blackmun
Lewis F. Powell Jr. · William Rehnquist
Case opinion
MajorityMarshall, joined by unanimous
Laws applied
Treaty with the Navajo Indians, 15 Stat. 667; Buck Act, 4 U.S.C. § 104 et seq.; Ariz. Rev. Stat. Ann. §43-102(a)

Background

Rosalind McClanahan was an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation in Arizona. In 1967, all of her income came from work on the Navajo Reservation; $16.20 was withheld from her wages. She requested a refund of the entire amount and protested the collection of state taxes. When the state declined her claim, she filed an action in the Arizona Superior Court. The court dismissed her case for failure to state a claim. McClanahan appealed to the Arizona Court of Appeals, which affirmed. The Arizona Supreme Court declined to hear the case, and the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari to hear the case.[1]

Decision

Justice Thurgood Marshall delivered the opinion of a unanimous court. Marshall found that there was nothing in federal law that authorized Arizona to collect a state income tax from an Indian that earned the income on the reservation. The case was reversed.[1]

References

  1. McClanahan v. Arizonza State Tax Comm'n, 411 U.S. 164 (1973)
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