122
Opinion of the Court
nity purposes there was no difference between trust land validly set apart for Indian use and reservation land. 967 F. 2d, at 1428. Hence, the income of tribal members who worked for the Tribe on trust land was immune from state taxation. Id., at 1428-1429. The income of nonmembers, however, was not immune. Id., at 1429-1430.
Turning to the vehicle taxes, the Court of Appeals found that the excise tax was not enforced as a sales tax. Id., at 1430. It rejected the Commission's contention that the registration fee was imposed for the privilege of using state roads because the State had offered no evidence to show the registration fee was tailored to the amount of use outside Indian country. Ibid. Relying on Moe v. Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of Flathead Reservation, 425 U. S. 463 (1976), and Washington v. Confederated Tribes of Colville Reservation, 447 U. S. 134 (1980), the court held that the taxes were "flatly prohibited." 967 F. 2d, at 1430. Although the taxes were imposed only indirectly on tribal members, the court would "not permit the State to tax indirectly what it cannot tax directly." Ibid. As with the income taxes, the Court of Appeals rejected the Tribe's argument that vehicles registered with the Tribe by nonmembers also should be immune from state taxation. Id., at 1430- 1431. Both parties petitioned for certiorari.
Soon after the Court of Appeals issued its opinion, the Wisconsin Supreme Court issued an opinion in which it concluded that McClanahan's presumption in favor of tax immunity was limited to those instances in which a tribal member both lived on and earned a living on the reservation. Anderson v. Wisconsin Dept. of Revenue, 169 Wis. 2d 255, 484 N. W. 2d 914 (1992). Thus, it declined to find state tax immunity for the wages of a tribal member who worked for the tribe on the reservation but who did not live on the reservation. Id., at 274-276, 484 N. W. 2d, at 921-922. We granted the Oklahoma Tax Commission's petition for certiorari. 506 U. S. 971 (1992).
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