Assessor's Office
Assessor: Danny Hagen
Assessor Update Regarding Taxation of Improvements on Leased, Tribal Land |
| In 2014, nearly 1,000 Skagit County tax parcels were removed from the Skagit County tax roll. This removal resulted from a Washington State Department of Revenue Tax Advisory discussing the exemption of non-tribal owned permanent improvements located on leased tribal land. This Property Tax Advisory was in response to Chehalis Tribes v. Thurston County decision (also known as the “Great Wolf Lodge Decision”) that was issued by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2013. A more recent ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla v. Riverside County upheld a county’s authority in the State of California to tax non-Indian leaseholder’s possessory interest on leased tribal lands held in trust with the U.S. Government. As Assessor, I sought clarification from the Department of Revenue as to what impact the recent holding in Agua Caliente had on their previous Property Tax Advisory issued in response to the Great Wolf Lodge Decision. Revenue responded stating that previously issued Property Tax Advisory concerns the taxability of non-tribal owned permanent improvements on leased tribal land, whereas the Agua Caliente ruling upheld taxation of possessory (leasehold) interest pursuant to California law and as such the Agua Caliente ruling has no impact on the previously issued Property Tax Advisory. Legal review and analysis of the issue will be ongoing but until such time that the Property Tax Advisory is retracted or overruled, it is my statutory obligation to maintain the applicable exemption and not tax the non-tribal owned permanent improvements on leased tribal land in Shelter Bay and elsewhere on the Swinomish Reservation. David M. Thomas Skagit County Assessor
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