Tribal Finance: Resources

The tribalfinance.org database aggregates a variety of primary and secondary information resources valuable to tribal finance marketplace participants.

Bibliography
Legislative history and tax code
Published research & guides on tribal finance
Tribal finance organizations and agencies
Project publications

Bibliographies

TFIC Tribal Finance Bibliography
Lending and Investing in Indian Country: A Bibliography
- CDFI Fund, Department of the Treasury, 2001

Legislative history and tax code

Tribal Tax Status Act

The goal of the Indian Tribal Government Tax Status Act of 1983 (Public Law 97-473, 96 Stat. 2605 Sec. 202) was to treat tribal governments like state and local governments for purposes of issuing tax-exempt debt. Unfortunately, the law in practice failed to fully achieve this goal and in fact substantially limits the ability of tribes to raise debt for economic development activities. Rob Williams has written the definitive article on the early history of the law.

Robert Williams, Steps in the Long Road to Self-Sufficiency for Indian Nations:The Indian Tribal Governmental Tax Status Act of 1982, 22 Harv Jnl Legislation 335 (1985).

The law began as Senate as S.1298 sponsored by Senator Wallup (R-WY) (see legislative history) but its more equitable provisions were reigned in by the conference committee (see House Conference Report No. 97-984). Specifically, the committee imposed an additional requirement that tribal tax-free bond proceeds could only be used for “essential governmental functions,” a restriction not applicable to state and municipal bonds. The damage to tribal economic prospects was further compounded when the act was amended in 1987 (see House Report 100-391) to clarify that tribes can only issue tax free bonds for projects “customarily” financed by states and local governments, such as, schools, roads, and government buildings (see House Conference Report No. 100-495 accompanying the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987).

Tax Code: 26 USC Sec. 7871

The provisions in the Internal Revenue Code that specifically establish how tribes are to be treated for the purposes of taxation are found at 26 USC Sec. 7871. (The most current version is maintained by the Government Printing Office as the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations).