heading up<\/a> and contribute to inflation in the weeks of ahead as geopolitical tension persists.<\/p>\nDeals are to be found, though, at many of the almost 500 tribally owned convenience stores with gas stations across the U.S.<\/p>\n
Fifty-five are in California. At the Chukchansi Crossing Fuel Station & Travel Center between Fresno and Yosemite National Park, the $5.09 gas was 60 cents less than nearby stations.<\/p>\n
New Mexico resident Jamie Cross usually finds savings on the Mescalero Apache Reservation, where gas was as low as $3.79 this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope we don\u2019t go any higher,\u201d Cross said Thursday.<\/p>\n
In eastern New York state, on Cattauragus Indian Territory between Buffalo and Erie, Pennsylvania, the cheapest gas was about $3.65 at more than half a dozen stations \u2014 50 cents less than in towns nearby. <\/p>\n
So how do tribes do it? Two words: Tax exemptions.<\/p>\n
Generally tribes must pay the federal fuel tax of 18.4 cents per gallon for gasoline and 24.3 cents per gallon for diesel, and pass that cost along to drivers. State fuel taxes are a different matter. <\/p>\n
For well over a century, U.S. courts have found that states don’t have authority to collect taxes from Native Americans on their land, said Dan Lewerenz, a University of North Dakota assistant law professor who specializes in Native American law.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Supreme Court consistently held to this view and it\u2019s one of the most enduring principles in federal Indian law,\u201d Lewerenz said.<\/p>\n
Federally recognized Native American tribes are in 35 states with state gasoline taxes ranging from 9 cents per gallon in Alaska to 71 cents in California. <\/p>\n
From there, things get complicated based on where the fuel is taxed \u2014 at fuel terminals, say, or when distributors buy or sell fuel \u2014 and depending on various agreements between states and tribes.<\/p>\n
Court rulings come into play. In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that off-reservation distributors in Kansas may charge state tax on sales to tribes for on-reservation fuel sales. But in 2019, the Supreme Court held that an 1855 treaty between the U.S. and the Yakama Nation that ensured the free travel of tribal members on roads with their goods prohibited state fuel taxes on tribal lands in Washington state.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a little bit different than the principle that Indians aren\u2019t taxed within Indian Country because this particular treaty reserved certain off-reservation rights for the Indians as well,\u201d Lewerenz said.<\/p>\n
Convenience store gas sales are not as profitable as bringing people inside from the pumps.<\/p>\n
Selling snacks adds profit. But tribal businesses are increasingly offering groceries in what otherwise would be \u201cfood deserts\u201d far from grocery stores.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes these gas stations and convenience stores are the nearest, best place to purchase affordable food or household supplies,\u201d said Matthew Klas, with the Minneapolis-based consultant Klas Robinson Q.E.D.<\/p>\n
Klas does market research and consults for tribal businesses and tracks the 245 tribes nationwide that, as of 2025, operated 496 convenience stores with gas stations.<\/p>\n
Oklahoma, California, Washington, Arizona, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Michigan and New York have the most. Some tribes, including the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma and Oneida Indian Nation in New York, have their own store chains.<\/p>\n
Drive-through smoke shops, car washes and truck stop amenities also bring in revenue. Then there are the casinos: 205 tribally owned gas stations are located at or near casinos.<\/p>\n
Some tribal casinos are resorts with gas stations. Some tribal gas stations are casinos of a sort called \u201cgasinos,\u201d which only have a small number of gambling machines.<\/p>\n
Tribally owned businesses are a major revenue generator for Native American reservations. On the Seattle area\u2019s Tulalip Reservation, rising gas sales were being reinvested in the community, helping to cover the cost of roads, police, health care, education, housing and other needs, Tulalip Tribes Federal Corporation CEO Tanya Burns said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike any government, we provide critical services to our people,\u201d Burns said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s terrible,\u201d Todd Hall of Paden, Oklahoma, said of diesel prices as he spent about $90 to fill up his tow truck at the Citizen Potawatomi Nation gas station about 30 miles (48 kilometers) west of Oklahoma City. <\/p>\n
But, he added: “They\u2019re cheaper here than anywhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hall paid $4.57 per gallon for diesel, and said the price is over $5 at many locations in the area.<\/p>\n
Mark Foster said he saves about $5 a week buying fuel at the tribally owned gas station. But he\u2019s a faithful customer because the tribe is a good community partner, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like the way the tribe operates,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd the price is good too.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the Tulalip Market north of Seattle, Jared Blankenship was griping not about prices but that he was having to pay for gas at all. <\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, well, my electric car just got totaled,\u201d Blankenship said. \u201cSo this sucks. This is new. It\u2019s either Costco or looking wherever\u2019s cheap, like the rez. So here we are.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
Lindsey Wasson in Seattle; Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City; Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Savannah Peters in Edgewood, New Mexico, contributed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
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