Car Tags Are The Latest Arena For Oklahoma’s Fight With Tribal Nations – By Jonathan Nicholson (Huffpost) / Nov 25, 2023
For years, Native American tribes have been allowed to issue license plates. Now the state is saying that’s tax evasion.
A single traffic stop could rewrite how the state of Oklahoma deals with the 39 federally recognized Native American tribal nations within its borders.
On Nov. 7, Crystal Deroin, one of the 3,300 members of the Otoe-Missouria tribe, was stopped by a state highway patrol officer near Enid, a city about an hour and a half north of Oklahoma City. In addition to being cited for speeding, The Associated Press reported, she got another ticket: $249 because of her license plate.
The alleged crime? Failure to pay state automobile taxes because she had a tag issued by her tribe but didn’t live within its geographic boundaries. Under a 1993 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Native American tribes have been allowed to issue their own valid tags to members. An estimated 34 of the tribes in Oklahoma have done so.
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