North Dakota Tribal Leaders Seek to Restore Vehicle Tax Exemption

Lonna Jackson-Street, chair of the Spirit Lake Nation. (Mary Steurer/North Dakota Monitor)

(Amy Dalrymple – North Dakota Monitor) – A bill in the North Dakota House seeks to restore a state tax exemption that some tribal leaders say was unfairly changed two years ago.

All enrolled members of North Dakota tribes used to be exempt from paying motor vehicle excise taxes when they bought a vehicle in the state.

Up until a 2023 law change, auto dealers would deliver vehicles to the five reservations that share geography with North Dakota.

A 2023 bill supported by tribal leaders and the Automobile Dealers Association of North Dakota sought to eliminate the need for the deliveries, which also were to tribal members living away from the reservation. The bill as proposed clarified that North Dakota tribal members, whether they lived on or off a reservation, are exempt from paying tax on the vehicle purchase.