In 1971, the Institute for the Development of American Indian Law was organized to develop a program which would begin to sort out the inconsistencies and contradictory doctrines blocking any final settlement of the rights of American Indians. The field of taxation is one in which conflicts have continually arisen. This text is intended to give tribal councils, individuals, tribal lawyers, and administrators working with Indian people a source document to aid them in understanding the complexity of the subject matter. The subject of Indian taxation involves tribal self-government, treaty rights, Congressional powers over individual Indians and tribes, and the relationship of tribal governments to state governments and agencies. The text outlines the problems which are encountered in the following topic areas: treaties, statutes and "attributes of sovereignty"; tax exempt Indians and the courts; tax exempt status of Indians in Washington State; and Washington and Public Law 280: The Tonasket Case. The text examines the current state of Indian rights and explains to Indian people the basis of their claims to certain legal rights. The book is designed to give a historical overview to the theories of taxation which affect Indian income derived from trust lands covering the major cases in the Federal court system which have tried to define the tax status of Indian people as regards their property. In addition, the book covers the major developments in the field of state taxation of Indian people. In the appendixes, the full texts of 6 reported court decisions are reprinted.