An Alaska tax story: Tribal sovereignty, settler colonialism, and the Indigenous tax space

Abstract

This article interrogates the extent to which tax laws are capable of empowering Indigenous peoples. It employs the concept of an Indigenous tax space, which places spatiality at the center of the settler colonial project. The socio-legal history of the Native Village of Kluti Kaah, an Ahtna tribe from southcentral Alaska, constitutes the main case study. In 1987, the tribe attempted to tax the Trans-Alaska Pipeline that passed through its traditional lands, creating an Indigenous tax space wherein tax law and discourse congregated to express and enact Indigenous agency. The article argues that the Indigenous tax space (1) provides a rare opportunity to reappraise the geographies of tax laws and policies and, more broadly, (2) allows us to explore settler colonialism’s previous and ongoing effects upon Indigenous territories.

Praise the Gardeners, Dun the Hunters: Alaska Natives, Taxation, and Settler Colonialism

“…For example, the school tax, a gendered head tax that financed Alaska’s segregated public school system, relied on an army of collectors 66 . While many remained within incorporated towns and school districts, some occupied much vaster territories (see Zahnd 2021).…”

“…“Of course,” the governor commented, “if all those subject to the tax have paid, then there is nothing for you to do, but if there are some that have not, you could no doubt get them while traveling in your capacity as game warde[n].” 71 Riggs’s decision to enlist the game wardens he had at his disposal was cunning. They knew the land better than anyone else, already patrolled the area relentlessly, and were known by the locals—all ingredients that guaranteed a smooth and efficient implementation of the tax while cementing the colonization of the frontier, albeit within limits (Zahnd 2021).…”