Page:United States Reports 502 OCT. TERM 1991.pdf/428

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COUNTY OF YAKIMA v. CONFEDERATED TRIBES AND BANDS OF YAKIMA NATION Opinion of Blackmun, J.

Accordingly, Yakima County’s excise tax on sales of land cannot be sustained. We hold that the General Allotment Act permits Yakima County to impose an ad valorem tax on reservation land patented in fee pursuant to the Act, but does not allow the county to enforce its excise tax on sales of such land. The Yakima Nation contends it is not clear whether the parcels at issue in these cases were patented under the General Allotment Act, rather than under some other statutes in force prior to the Indian Reorganization Act. E. g., 25 U. S. C. §§ 320, 379, 404, 405. We leave for resolution on remand that factual point, and the prior legal question whether it makes any difference. The judgment is affirmed, and the cause is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. It is so ordered. Justice Blackmun, concurring in part and dissenting in part. I have wandered the maze of Indian statutes and case law tracing back 100 years. Unlike the Court, however, I am unable to find an “unmistakably clear” intent of Congress to allow the States to tax Indian-owned fee-patented lands. Accordingly, while I concur with the majority’s conclusion that Yakima County may not impose excise taxes, I dissent from its conclusion that the county may impose ad valorem taxes on Indian-owned fee-patented lands. The Court correctly sets forth the “ ‘unmistakably clear’ ” intent standard to be applied. Ante, at 258. But then, in my view, it seriously misapplies it, over the well-taken objections of the Yakima Nation and against the sound guidance of the United States as amicus curiae. At bottom, I believe the Court misapprehends the nature of federal pre-emption analysis and, as a result, dramatically devalues longstanding