Property Taxation of Indian Land After <em>County of Yakima v. Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakima Nation</em>

In 1987, Yakima County, Washington, initiated foreclosure proceedings on properties belonging to the Yakima Indian Nation and its members. The county's foreclosure was precipitated by the property owners' failure to pay past due ad valorem and excise taxes. Despite vigorous arguments by the Yakima Nation, the United States, and the thirty-one Yakima Indian families likely to be rendered homeless by an adverse decision, the United States Supreme Court held in County of Yakima v. Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakima Nation, that states have the power to impose ad valorem taxes on reservation land owned in fee by Indians. This Recent Development provides a brief summary of that decision.