Native American rights--are they fair to "regular" citizens?

- Is it true that they don't pay taxes?

Tribal governements have limited-sovereignty over their respective tribal land. Through this limited-sovereignty, many tribes have chosen not to enact a tax on their respective reservations. This does NOT exempt Native Americans residing on reservations from paying state and federal taxes though.

There ARE certain tax exemptions in various states as per agreement between tribes and the local, state, and federal government entities. One example would be in Washington, where Native Americans are exempt from paying taxes on lumber because that lumber was logged from tribally-owned land.

Off the reservation, we pay taxes just like everybody else. It's ironic that people always talk about the myth that Native Americans don't pay taxes, yet nobody ever talks about how Alaskans don't pay state taxes; and, in fact, are paid a stipend each year from the state.

- Is it true that they get free education in state universities?

There are several states which have made an agreement with tribes located in their states to offer free tuition for those tribally-enrolled students who graduate from a school on their reservation that are located in their state. This does not exempt them from paying room and board costs though.

eg.

A Crow high school graduate from a high school on the Crow Reservation may attend any state college in Montana tuition free. They do still have to pay for their own food and lodging.

That's not to say that several tribes who have successful casinos do not offer full-ride scholarships for tribally-enrolled college students. There are several tribes like that, but a majority are not. In my case, after my sophomore year in college I had to pay for college through Stafford student loans.

- Is it true that they make their own laws (they can operate casinos when average people are regulated) on the land they live on (reservations)?

Tribes are limited regarding the laws they may enact and criminal laws they may try in court. The right to own and operate a casino was granted by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which is a US government entity. Tribes ARE limited in the realm of crimes. Many crimes on a reservation that exceed the boundaries of tribal criminal law become felonies; so be careful with the crimes you commit if you are on a reservation. The area that tribes have most reign over is the use of "public" land. Technically speaking, no tribe owns the reservation they reside on. It's land held in trust by the federal government and can be taken away at any point in time. The federal government has the right of eminent domain on tribal land.

- My friend says the fact that the Seminole tribe just bought the Hard Rock Cafe business for a billion dollars shows that something is wrong. Here are tribal leaders amassing tons of money to make more money while they keep their people in poverty so they can hold up the poor downtrodden Native American and try to make everybody feel sorry for them. He says it's like a third world dictatorship. I had to concede that something isn't right. What do you think?

As mentioned earlier, the Bureau of Indian Affairs granted the right of individual tribes to open casinos on their respective reservations. One of the stipulations for this right was that no one individual shall retain ownership of said casino; ownership was restricted to the entire tribe. Another stipulation was that any revenue generated from the operation of a casino on a reservation must either be distributed to enrolled members of the tribe or used on projects for the benefit of the entire tribe. This is where tribal members of a casino-operating tribe often receive monthly allowances or full-ride scholarships to a post-secondary school. Unfortunately, what most people don't realize is that many of these tribes can do this because they typically have less than a thousand enrolled members and in several generations they will no longer exist.

So you are more worried about Native Americans owning a business, but you are not the least bit worried about Haliburton or Exxon/Mobile owning the government? No, I'm really not very radical, but you could rethink your perspective. If you want to consider "not fair", then you need to look at who is getting the massive amounts of money, our money, that our government is spending. If you want to look up unfair, I suggest you look at the rate of poverty and unemployment on the reservations, before you start feeling abused,

The short answer is "it was all promised in the written treaties" when signing over North America to the foreigners, so YESSSSSSS it is more than fair, in fact there isn't enough YET

We do pay taxes, and I had to pay full tuition for college (and I have the loans to prove it.) Native Nations are considered sovereign---like small countries---so no, it isn't unfair at all. And we are "regular" citizens too.

check your history, and you will see the real reason why the native americans in this country are poor, the white man has broken every treaty he has ever made with us.