All about the ancient tribes
Rahul Shankar’s excellent answer describes how much land is owned by Indian tribes. His answer: between 2 and 3 percent. It is worth noting that, as “domestic dependent nations,” Indian tribes cannot buy and sell land at will. Indian lands are held “in trust” through the U.S. Department of the Interior.
How much land do Indian tribes own in the US?
According to the 2010 Decennial Census, 0.9% of the U.S. population, or 2.9 million people, identified as American Indian or Alaska Native alone, while 1.7% of the U.S. population, or 5.2 million people, identified as American Indian or Alaska Native alone or in combination with another race.
44 million acres are tribal trust lands. 11 million acres are individually owned. There are 12 State-recognized reservations. Indian nations range in size from some California rancherias of less than 1 acre to the Navajo Nation at more than 17 million acres.
The area that was “reserved” for tribes from there previous landholdings is about 2.3% of the total US land. Some reservations are the “reserved” remnants of a tribe’s original land base.
Hit “play,” and you’ll see every cession of land from native peoples between 1784 and today. From the birth of our country to today, we seized 1.5 billion acres of native land.
Do Indians pay taxes? All Indians are subject to federal income taxes. As sovereign entities, tribal governments have the power to levy taxes on reservation lands. However, whenever a member of an Indian tribe conducts business off the reservation, that person, like everyone else, pays both state and local taxes.
The resolution approved by the Tribal Council in 2016 divided the Minors Fund payments into blocks. Starting in June 2017, the EBCI began releasing $25,000 to individuals when they turned 18, another $25,000 when they turned 21, and the remainder of the fund when they turned 25.
Indian lands are owned and managed by the federal government. But because Indians do not generally own their land or homes on reservations, they cannot mortgage their assets for loans like other Americans.
Trust Relationship The 56 million acres of reservation land currently under Indian ownership are held in trust for Indian people by the U.S. federal government. Consequently, approval by the secretary of the interior is required for nearly all land-use decisions, such as selling, leasing or business development.
Thus, Indian reserve land cannot be sold except to the Crown and does not appreciate in value the same way that property held in fee simple does for other Canadians. This makes it very difficult for a status Indian to borrow funds to build a house on reserve.
About 22% of our country’s 5.2 million Native Americans live on tribal lands (2010 U.S. Census).
In 1851, Congress passed the Indian Appropriations Act which created Native American Indian reservations. Today, reservations can be found in 25 states. The state with the most reservations is California with 121 reservations. Some reservations such as the Navajo reservation span more than one state.
Many people believe that American Indians go to college for free, but they do not. AIEF – the American Indian Education Fund – is a PWNA program that annually funds 200 to 250 scholarships, as well as college grants, laptops and other supplies for Indian students.
In general, most Native American lands are trust land. Approximately 56 million acres of land are held in trust by the United States for various Native American tribes and individuals.
Since the 1880s, U.S. legislation has resulted in Native Americans losing ownership and control of 90 million acres. The results have been devastating.