Miccosukee tribe, IRS wrangle over taxation of casino revenue

The relationship between the U.S. federal government and Native Americans has never been a particularly easy one. It is, however, about to get a lot more complicated.

The Miccosukee tribe has advised the IRS that members of the tribe do not owe any taxes received from the tribe's multimillion-dollar gaming and casino operations in Florida. The IRS, as you can imagine, takes a very different position.

Under existing law, tribes with gaming facilities do not pay federal income tax on revenue collected at casinos and other halls. This is in deference to the idea of tribal sovereignty and is key to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), signed into law by President Reagan in 1988. However, tribes are required to report all distributions to members and to advise members that they may owe federal income taxes on those distributions. The idea was to respect the idea of tribal sovereignty to create gaming halls and casinos which might otherwise not be allowed under state law but give the federal government the power to regulate gaming.