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CASS COUNTY v. LEECH LAKE BAND OF
CHIPPEWA INDIANS
Opinion of the Court

fee rendered them nontaxable once again. We reject this
contention. As explained, once Congress has demonstrated
(as it has here) a clear intent to subject the land to taxation
by making it alienable, Congress must make an unmistaka-
bly clear statement in order to render it nontaxable. See
County of Yakima v. Confederated Tribes and Bands of
Yakima Nation, 502 U. S., at 263 (citing Goudy v. Meath,
supra, at 149). The subsequent repurchase of reservation
land by a tribe does not manifest any congressional intent to
reassume federal protection of that land and to oust state
taxing authority—particularly when Congress explicitly re-
linquished such protection many years before.

Further, if we were to accept the Leech Lake Band’s argu-
ment, it would render partially superﬂuous § 465 of the In-
dian Reorganization Act. That section grants the Secretary
of the Interior authority to place land in trust, to be held by
the Federal Government for the beneﬁt of the Indians and
to be exempt from state and local taxation after assuming
such status:

“The Secretary of the Interior is authorized, in his
discretion, to acquire, through purchase, relinquishment,
gift, exchange, or assignment, and interest in lands . . .
within or without existing reservations . . . for the pur-
pose of providing land for Indians. . . .

“Title to any lands . . . shall be taken in the name of
the United States in trust for the Indian tribe or individ-
ual Indian for which the land is acquired, and such lands
. . . shall be exempt from State and local taxation.” 25
U. S. C. § 465.

In § 465, therefore, Congress has explicitly set forth a proce-
dure by which lands held by Indian tribes may become tax
exempt.
It would render this procedure unnecessary, as far
as exemption from taxation is concerned, if we held that tax-
exempt status automatically attaches when a tribe acquires
reservation land. The Leech Lake Band apparently realizes