The Tribal General Welfare Exclusion Act (GWE) became law in September after being passed unanimously by Congress. The law protects tribal members from having benefits taxed while preventing tribal governments from being audited until agents trained in tribal law can be trained.
Recently tribal leaders made the trek to Florida to discuss the new law, which also creates a Tribal Advisory Committee to advise the U.S. Treasury on tribal tax issues. However, the IRS has announced that the committee is being created without input from tribal leaders and that tribal members may not be appointed to it.
Worries about this issue have prompted tribal leaders to mix optimism with apprehension when talking about the new law.
The meeting generated a press release by Colley Billie, chairman of the Miccosukee tribe, who said, “The Congress enacted the GWE Act to protect Indian people from continued harassment by the IRS. For years we have had to deal with IRS auditing threats simply because we provide benefits to improve the quality of life of our people.”
Robert Shepherd, chairman of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, who also attended the meeting, called for tribal members to be included in creating the new committee. “Tribal nations know their peoples needs more than anyone else, so it is only common sense that tribal leaders be involved in the Tribal Advisory Committee,” he said a press release.
Many of the same tribal leaders plan to meet again in Washington D.C. next month at the annual White House Tribal Summit.
