The Value of Tax Exemptions on First Nations Reserves /

Section 87 of the Indian Act lays out tax exemptions on reserves as follows: 87 (1) Notwithstanding any other Act of Parliament or any Act of the legislature of a province, but subject to section 83 and section 5 of the First Nations Fiscal Management Act, the following property is exempt from taxation: (a) the interest of an Indian or a band in reserve lands or surrendered lands; and (b) the pers [...] In 2006, nearly 50 percent of First Nations people made too little money to be subject to tax, compared to 25 percent of the general population of B. C.30 As the authors demonstrated, “This $20 million would be paid almost entirely by only 8% of First Nation people who pay no income tax but have income in the taxable range, and who would pay at least $1,000 of tax in the absence of the tax exempti [...] I derived estimates of sales taxes and federal excise taxes from the price of fuel for the year, building on the work of market estimates and calculations on gas prices and the GST per litre. [...] The Manitoba government estimated the value of sales tax exemptions and the Ontario government disclosed its portion of HST exemptions at the point of sale. [...] If the limited partnership agreement does not state who owns the partnership assets where the limited partner is a First Nation individual or band and the general partner is not, then the purchase of fuel on First Nation land is not exempt from motor fuel tax and carbon tax … The law relating to partnerships is complicated.39 The lack of data on corporate taxation and the complexity of analysis re