Okmulgee grocery store seeks federal ruling on state-tribal sales tax dispute

A Tulsa-based grocery store chain is asking a federal judge to declare that the state cannot collect sales tax from its Okmulgee grocery store because it is situated on restricted Indian land.

Warehouse Market filed a lawsuit on Tuesday in federal court for Northern District of Oklahoma seeking a ruling that the Oklahoma Tax Commission cannot collect sales tax from its Cox Cash Saver Cost Plus store in Okmulgee since the shopping center is located on restricted Indian land under the jurisdiction of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation.

The lawsuit is the latest legal maneuver in a legal dispute between the tribe, the store and the Oklahoma Tax Commission that has been ongoing since late 2018, and did not arise because of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent McGirt decision. That decision held that Congress never dis-established many of the tribal reservations in eastern Oklahoma.

Attorneys for Warehouse Market declined to comment on the case beyond the court filings. Paula Ross, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Tax Commission said Wednesday that the commission had yet to receive the lawsuit and declined comment.

Read more: https://www.readfrontier.org/stories/okmulgee-grocery-store-seeks-federal-ruling-on-state-tribal-sales-tax-dispute/