Members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in western North Carolina might be eligible for a program that would allow them not to claim casino distributions as taxable income.
The program, called GenWell, would use the Tribal General Welfare Exclusion Act of 2014 that excludes “any Indian general welfare benefit” from being counted as gross income.
Currently the tribal code refers to the twice-yearly payments as “per capita.” That makes them automatically taxable, Cory Blankenship, the tribe’s secretary of finance, told the Tribal Council in a recent meeting.
Blankenship said, however, that the program could move forward if certain conditions were met. The benefits must be for the promotion of general welfare, not be lavish and extravagant or compensation for services, and available to any tribal members who meet the guidelines. Programs must be administered under specific guidelines and may not discriminate in favor of members of the tribe’s governing body.
“The idea is that we would adopt the general language as part of ordinance and Council by resolution would adopt the plan design,” Blankenship told the Smoky Mountain News. “Any amendments that are needed in the future to the plan design can only be done by resolution of the council.”
If the provisions of the program are approved, members of the Eastern Band could start signing up for GenWell in March of next year.
Blankenship added that he plans on an open enrollment period, where tribal members could apply to leave the per capita program and enroll in the new program.
The two programs would run concurrently until tribal members are comfortable with the GenWell program.
“If we get the majority of tribal members moved over to the GenWell program, there may be a point in time in the future when we say, ‘Let’s make this change for everyone,’” Blankenship said. “But for now we’ll run these programs side-by-side.”
The Council still must approve the plan as well as change the ordinance, but Blankenship is confident that will happen in the near future.
