And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
post sent by:Wendat
thanks..
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Full-name: AOL News
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Thu, 8 Apr 1999 19:23:03 EDT
Subject: Indians To Face Tougher Tax Rules
Indians To Face Tougher Tax Rules
.c The Associated Press
By PHILIP BRASHER
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Interior Department wants to make it tougher for
Indian tribes to avoid paying taxes on land they acquire off their
reservations.
Under rules proposed Thursday, the department said it would start giving
greater weight to local concerns when deciding whether to take tribal lands
into trust. Federal trust status removes the land from tax rolls and exempts
it from zoning controls and other regulations.
Tribes made wealthy by gambling interests have stepped up their purchases of
land on and off their reservations, leading to conflicts with local
communities. Last year, the department refused to let Minnesota's small
Shakopee Mdewakanton tribe remove from the tax rolls 593 acres of land it had
purchased near its reservation in the Minneapolis suburbs.
``In restructuring the regulations, we believe that the decision-making
process will better reflect the present-day needs and concerns of Indian
tribes and surrounding non-Indian communities,'' Interior Secretary Bruce
Babbitt said.
Tribes often must buy land outside their reservations if they want to
diversify economically, and they can't control the property adequately unless
it is put into trust, said Ron Allen, president of the National Congress of
American Indians and chairman of Washington's Jamestown S'Klallam tribe.
``It's going to make it very difficult for a lot of tribes, both small and
large,'' he said.
The rules would make it easier for tribes to get trust status for lands
acquired within their reservation boundaries. In such cases, the application
process would be streamlined and there would be a strong presumption in favor
of the tribe, the agency said.
Tribes have long since lost much of the land they once owned on their
reservations because of the government's 19th century allotment policies.
About 8 percent of the land lost through allotment has been reacquired.
Most of the land-into-trust applications that the department receives are for
small parcels, averaging 30 acres in size, within reservation boundaries.
AP-NY-04-08-99 1910EDT
Copyright 1998 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP
news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise
distributed without prior written authority of The Associated Press.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
