Cite as: 515 U. S. 450 (1995)
Opinion of the Court
Rabbit Creek, Sept. 27, 1830, Art. IV, 7 Stat. 333-334, that "no Territory or State shall ever have a right to pass laws for the government of the [Chickasaw] Nation of Red People and their descendants." To this treaty language, the Tenth Circuit applied "the general rule that '[d]oubtful expressions are to be resolved in favor of' the Indians." 31 F. 3d, at 978 (quoting McClanahan v. Arizona Tax Comm'n, 411 U. S. 164, 174 (1973)). The Court of Appeals also noted that it had endeavored to "rea[d] the treaty as the Indians [who signed it] would have understood it." 31 F. 3d, at 979.
We granted the State's petition for certiorari, 513 U. S. 1071 (1995), and now (1) affirm the Court of Appeals' judgment as to the motor fuels tax, and (2) reverse that judgment as to the income tax applied to earnings of tribal members who work for the Tribe but reside in the State outside Indian country.
II
The Tribe contends, and the Tenth Circuit held, that Oklahoma's fuels tax 5 is levied on retailers, not on distributors or consumers. The respect due to the Chickasaw Nation's sovereignty, the Tribe maintains, means Oklahoma—absent congressional permission—may not collect its tax for fuel supplied to, and sold by, the Tribe at its convenience stores. In support of the tax immunity it asserts, the Tribe recalls our reaffirmations to this effect: "The Constitution vests the Federal Government with exclusive authority over relations with Indian tribes . . . , and in recognition of the sovereignty retained by Indian tribes even after formation of the United States, Indian tribes and individuals generally are exempt from state taxation within their own territory." Montana v. Blackfeet Tribe, 471 U. S. 759, 764 (1985); see
5 According to the State's Tax Commission, Oklahoma imposes fuels tax at the rate of 17 cents per gallon for gasoline and 14 cents per gallon for diesel fuel. Brief for Petitioner 2-3; see Okla. Stat., Tit. 68, §§ 502, 502.2, 502.4, 502.6, 516, 520, 522 (1991) (gasoline); §§ 502.1, 502.3, 502.5, 502.7, 522.1 (diesel fuel).
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