The Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, which lost a 7,100-acre parcel of land last December after the IRS sold it to pay off $3.12 million in delinquent employment taxes, has worked out a deal to settle its tax debts and get a loan to buy back the land.
The tribe has agreed to dismiss a lawsuit against the IRS, which seized and sold the South Dakota land at auction despite the fact that the tribe had been told earlier by the Bureau of Indian Affairs that it was exempt from paying employment taxes to the government. The tribe had been planning to build a wind farm on the land before it was sold at auction for $2.58 million (see
The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux in Minnesota has agreed to lend the Crow Creek Sioux $3 million to buy back the land, according to the
For the tribes part, the tribal councilors will now be having their payroll taxes deducted automatically from their paychecks. Thank goodness for technology. It may have helped avoid another clash on the frontier, or at least in court. The case had been scheduled to go to trial in May.
