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Supreme court to look at Yakama Tribe case

The U.S. Supreme Court has scheduled to review next month whether Yakama tribal members are exempt from Washington state gas taxes on the reservation.

The Court has set a hearing for Oct. 30 on the case stemming from a state Department of Licensing lawsuit in 2013 against a gas station and convenience store in White Swan.

The department has claimed the store, owned by tribal member Kip Ramsey, brought out-of-state fuel onto the reservation without paying the state’s fuel tax.

Yakima County Superior Court and the state Supreme Court have previously ruled the Yakama Treaty of 1855 exempted tribal-owned gas stations on the reservation from the tax.

The nation’s highest court agreed earlier this year to hear the case.