OK, but does the Fed Gov have the authority to grant or deny the right to do business on an Indian res? I thought that would be up to the res gov.
“OK, but does the Fed Gov have the authority to grant or deny the right to do business on an Indian res? I thought that would be up to the res gov.”
Short answer: No, of course not. Sovereign means Feds have no authority over commerce, as well as local laws, pure and simple!
Clearly, if the Native American Nations are indeed sovereign, then the Federal Government has absolutely no authority to tax any business activity conducted within any sovereign Native American Nation.
If the Federal government wants to tax citizens who purchase goods from a sovereign Native American Nation, then that is another question. Since the Constitution explicitly prohibits a head tax, taxing a citizen directly would be problematic, at best, and totally unlawful in my opinion. But who am I? Perhaps a Constitutional Lawyer can address these issues more resolutely than I.