[475]*475Mr. Justice Black
delivered the opinion of the Court.
This action was brought by the government in a federal district court to recover real estate taxes alleged to have been illegally collected by Mahnomen County, Minnesota, from Isabelle Garden, an Indian allottee.1 The suit, brought in 1940, seeks a refund of taxes for the years 1911 to 1927 inclusive. It is conceded that any limitation on the County’s power to tax expired in 1928 with the termination of the twenty-five year trust described below. The District Court rendered judgment against the County for the years 1911 to 1921, inclusive, giving a total judgment of $405.97. On appeal by both the government and the County, the Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed but gave an added judgment for the years 1922 through 1925. 131 F. 2d 936.
In its petition for certiorari, the County claimed that Garden was an emancipated Indian who had paid the taxes voluntarily, and that hence the judgment granting a refund conflicts with Ward v. Love County, 253 U. S. 17. The County also contended that it was wholly within an Indian reservation; that it had long been dependent on taxation of allotted lands; that after the passage of the first Clapp Amendment in 1906, 34 Stat. 325, 353, which emancipated the Mahnomen County Indians, and lifted “all restrictions as to the sale, incumbrance, or taxation for allotments,” the County had assumed that the Indians could voluntarily contribute to the support of county institutions; and that while the instant judgment is small, the aggregate amount of such judgments which might be obtained in similar actions would adversely affect the solvency of the County and imperil the continuance of [476]*476county institutions. On.these representations of the public importance of the case, we granted certiorari.
In 1902, the Secretary of the Interior, acting under Congressional authority, issued a patent to this Indian allottee, agreeing to hold a tract of land in trust for twenty-five years “for the sole use and benefit of the Indian” and then to convey the land to her “discharged of said trust and free of all charge or incumbrance whatsoever.” 2 Indian land so held by the government has been said to be exempt from all state taxation. United States v. Rickert, 188 U. S. 432, 436-438. The first and second Clapp Amendments, passed in 1906 and 1907,3 lifted restrictions previously imposed upon the sale, encumbrance and taxation of the allotments of adult mixed-blood Indians, and in addition declared that “the trust deeds heretofore or hereafter executed by the Department for such allotments, are hereby declared to pass the title in fee simple.” Garden is an adult mixed-blood Indian and has been an adult since 1911, when the first controverted tax payment was made. These amendments evidence “a legislative judgment that adult mixed-blood Indians are, in the respects dealt with in the act, capable of managing their own affairs, and for that reason they are given full power and authority to dispose of allotted lands.” United States v. Waller, 243 U. S. 452, 462; Baker v. McCarthy, 145 Minn. 167, 170, 176 N. W. 643.
Notwithstanding these acts the County concedes, and we assume arguendo, that it was without power to impose a tax upon these allotted lands prior to 1928 against the consent of the Indians. Choate v. Trapp, 224 U. S. 665.4 The [477]*477Clapp Amendment gives the consent of the United States to state taxation, thus removing the barrier to taxation found to exist in United States v. Rickert, supra; but under Choate v. Trapp the Indian, who has gained a “vested right” not to be taxed, must also consent. Acceptance of Choate v. Trapp does not mean that an Indian, legislatively declared to be competent to handle his own affairs, cannot voluntarily decide to pay taxes for his own advantage and welfare. If, as the petitioner argued, and as the government does not deny, the capacity of the County to provide schools, roads, and other necessary services would have been seriously jeopardized, if not destroyed, by the failure of the Indians to contribute to a tax fund, their newly granted emancipation would have been of little value. In addition, the market value of their lands would have been greatly reduced by the complete inability of the County to secure funds essential to the establishment of means of travel and communication and the maintenance of an orderly society. Nothing that was said in Choate v. Trapp, or in any other decision of this Court, deprived an emancipated Indian of freedom voluntarily to pay taxes in his own interest. Ward v. Love County, 253 U. S. 17, 22, assumed that the test of the right to recover a tax illegally collected from an Indian is'whether the tax was paid voluntarily, and that the burden is upon one seeking recovery of the tax to establish that the payment was made involuntarily. The issue before us, therefore, is whether the government has sustained that burden.
There is no allegation, stipulation, or finding by either court that these taxes were involuntarily paid. Both courts below erroneously assumed that the government’s original obligation to hold the land in trust and deliver it free of encumbrances permits the government to main[478]*478tain this suit even though the Indian has willingly paid taxes. 1911-1921 taxes were evidently paid without protest, and there is nothing in the record to permit a deduction that the payments were involuntary.5
The 1922-25 taxes were discharged in somewhat different fashion. The allottee became delinquent in the payment and the lands were sold to the State. Subsequently, in 1936, she made a compromise arrangement with the State, for a period including not only the years 1922-27, for which tax exemption is claimed, but also for the years 1928-34, for which there is no conceivable claim of exemption. This compromise, made in the form of purchase of two tax certificates for the allottee, resulted in payment by Garden for the entire 1922-34 period of less than the amount of the 1928-34 taxes. The compromise, made at a time when the Indian was fully as free as any other citizen, was, in the words of the District Court, a “voluntary action and election of the allottee to proceed in a manner which she deemed wise and prudent.” It resulted in a net saving to the allottee of $66.42 for the taxable years 1928-1934.6 The voluntary nature and the [479]
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[475]*475Mr. Justice Black
delivered the opinion of the Court.
This action was brought by the government in a federal district court to recover real estate taxes alleged to have been illegally collected by Mahnomen County, Minnesota, from Isabelle Garden, an Indian allottee.1 The suit, brought in 1940, seeks a refund of taxes for the years 1911 to 1927 inclusive. It is conceded that any limitation on the County’s power to tax expired in 1928 with the termination of the twenty-five year trust described below. The District Court rendered judgment against the County for the years 1911 to 1921, inclusive, giving a total judgment of $405.97. On appeal by both the government and the County, the Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed but gave an added judgment for the years 1922 through 1925. 131 F. 2d 936.
In its petition for certiorari, the County claimed that Garden was an emancipated Indian who had paid the taxes voluntarily, and that hence the judgment granting a refund conflicts with Ward v. Love County, 253 U. S. 17. The County also contended that it was wholly within an Indian reservation; that it had long been dependent on taxation of allotted lands; that after the passage of the first Clapp Amendment in 1906, 34 Stat. 325, 353, which emancipated the Mahnomen County Indians, and lifted “all restrictions as to the sale, incumbrance, or taxation for allotments,” the County had assumed that the Indians could voluntarily contribute to the support of county institutions; and that while the instant judgment is small, the aggregate amount of such judgments which might be obtained in similar actions would adversely affect the solvency of the County and imperil the continuance of [476]*476county institutions. On.these representations of the public importance of the case, we granted certiorari.
In 1902, the Secretary of the Interior, acting under Congressional authority, issued a patent to this Indian allottee, agreeing to hold a tract of land in trust for twenty-five years “for the sole use and benefit of the Indian” and then to convey the land to her “discharged of said trust and free of all charge or incumbrance whatsoever.” 2 Indian land so held by the government has been said to be exempt from all state taxation. United States v. Rickert, 188 U. S. 432, 436-438. The first and second Clapp Amendments, passed in 1906 and 1907,3 lifted restrictions previously imposed upon the sale, encumbrance and taxation of the allotments of adult mixed-blood Indians, and in addition declared that “the trust deeds heretofore or hereafter executed by the Department for such allotments, are hereby declared to pass the title in fee simple.” Garden is an adult mixed-blood Indian and has been an adult since 1911, when the first controverted tax payment was made. These amendments evidence “a legislative judgment that adult mixed-blood Indians are, in the respects dealt with in the act, capable of managing their own affairs, and for that reason they are given full power and authority to dispose of allotted lands.” United States v. Waller, 243 U. S. 452, 462; Baker v. McCarthy, 145 Minn. 167, 170, 176 N. W. 643.
Notwithstanding these acts the County concedes, and we assume arguendo, that it was without power to impose a tax upon these allotted lands prior to 1928 against the consent of the Indians. Choate v. Trapp, 224 U. S. 665.4 The [477]*477Clapp Amendment gives the consent of the United States to state taxation, thus removing the barrier to taxation found to exist in United States v. Rickert, supra; but under Choate v. Trapp the Indian, who has gained a “vested right” not to be taxed, must also consent. Acceptance of Choate v. Trapp does not mean that an Indian, legislatively declared to be competent to handle his own affairs, cannot voluntarily decide to pay taxes for his own advantage and welfare. If, as the petitioner argued, and as the government does not deny, the capacity of the County to provide schools, roads, and other necessary services would have been seriously jeopardized, if not destroyed, by the failure of the Indians to contribute to a tax fund, their newly granted emancipation would have been of little value. In addition, the market value of their lands would have been greatly reduced by the complete inability of the County to secure funds essential to the establishment of means of travel and communication and the maintenance of an orderly society. Nothing that was said in Choate v. Trapp, or in any other decision of this Court, deprived an emancipated Indian of freedom voluntarily to pay taxes in his own interest. Ward v. Love County, 253 U. S. 17, 22, assumed that the test of the right to recover a tax illegally collected from an Indian is'whether the tax was paid voluntarily, and that the burden is upon one seeking recovery of the tax to establish that the payment was made involuntarily. The issue before us, therefore, is whether the government has sustained that burden.
There is no allegation, stipulation, or finding by either court that these taxes were involuntarily paid. Both courts below erroneously assumed that the government’s original obligation to hold the land in trust and deliver it free of encumbrances permits the government to main[478]*478tain this suit even though the Indian has willingly paid taxes. 1911-1921 taxes were evidently paid without protest, and there is nothing in the record to permit a deduction that the payments were involuntary.5
The 1922-25 taxes were discharged in somewhat different fashion. The allottee became delinquent in the payment and the lands were sold to the State. Subsequently, in 1936, she made a compromise arrangement with the State, for a period including not only the years 1922-27, for which tax exemption is claimed, but also for the years 1928-34, for which there is no conceivable claim of exemption. This compromise, made in the form of purchase of two tax certificates for the allottee, resulted in payment by Garden for the entire 1922-34 period of less than the amount of the 1928-34 taxes. The compromise, made at a time when the Indian was fully as free as any other citizen, was, in the words of the District Court, a “voluntary action and election of the allottee to proceed in a manner which she deemed wise and prudent.” It resulted in a net saving to the allottee of $66.42 for the taxable years 1928-1934.6 The voluntary nature and the [479]*479fairness of the 1936 settlement are further indicated by the fact that the County, in its answer to the complaint, has declared its willingness to refund the sum paid in settlement in order that it may relevy the taxes for the years 1928 and 1934 and thus collect the taxes which Garden admittedly owed.
The allottee paid the 1911-21 taxes voluntarily and settled the balance of her taxes to her advantage in 1936. Neither Minnesota law7 nor federal law8 requires that [480]*480a county refund taxes which an emancipated Indian has voluntarily paid. The County is entitled to judgment in its favor.
Reversed.
Mr. Justice Frankfurter and Mr. Justice Rutledge concur in the result.