Court Opinion

ID: 9466899
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 01:32:01.112253+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:40:02.062135
License: Public Domain

*918FERGUSON, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
The result reached here, as the majority admits, will hinder federal policy toward the Indians. I must therefore dissent.
By adopting statutes which attempt to assist Indians in becoming economically self-sufficient, Congress intended to exempt noncompetent Indians from federal income taxation when income is derived from lands held in trust for Indians. Judge Battin was therefore correct when he held that federal policies and statutes regarding Indians created an exemption for Anderson from federal income taxation for the income derived from grazing cattle on land held in trust for other noncompetent Indians and his tribe.
The majority fails to give effect to the reason and logic of the opinion of the Supreme Court in Squire v. Capoeman, 351 U.S. 1, 76 S.Ct. 611, 100 L.Ed. 883 (1956). The Court found in that case that the income which came directly from the land was tax-exempt. It specifically rejected the argument that the case should be viewed as an ordinary tax case without regard to relevant treaties and statutes, congressional policy concerning Indians, or the guardian-ward relationship existing between the United States and Indians. In determining that the income at issue here was tax-exempt, Judge Battin found, as did the Supreme Court, that those matters were relevant, and that they required a holding that Anderson’s income was not subject to federal taxation.
Judge Battin’s decision is consistent with the proposition, stated by the Attorney General in 1924, that “[i]t is not lightly to be assumed that Congress intended to tax the ward for the benefit of the guardian.” 34 Op.Atty.Gen. 275, 281 (1924), quoted in Squire v. Capoeman, supra, 351 U.S. at 8, 76 S.Ct. at 616. It is also consistent with the following statement of the Supreme Court in Squire v. Capoeman, supra, 351 U.S. at 8-9, 76 S.Ct. at 616 (footnote omitted):
[I]t was said by Felix S. Cohen, an acknowledged expert in Indian law, that “It is clear that the exemption accorded tribal and restricted Indian lands extends to the income derived directly therefrom.”
The majority fails to recognize that courts must interpret federal statutes and policies in a manner which does not thwart the intent of Congress. The majority’s failure to exempt Anderson’s income from federal taxation does exactly that. Because I feel that Squire v. Capoeman and federal policies and statutes dictate that Mr. Anderson’s income be tax-exempt, I must dissent.