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Committee discusses tribal casino taxes and loss of Indian gaming supplemental fund that once aided local services
Summary
Members asked whether tribal casino taxes contribute to local services; the committee discussed that tribal taxes are separate and the Indian gaming supplemental benefits fund previously distributed roughly $1'$1.5 million annually to local law enforcement and fire but those distributions ended when state-level allocations were changed around 2015.
A committee member asked whether tribal casino tax collections support local services, especially given wear and tear on roads. The Moderator and other participants explained that tribal-collected taxes are separate from city sales tax and that tribal operations are largely exempt from local levies. The Moderator noted that "that tax that they're charging, that is purely their tax" and described the historical Indian gaming supplemental benefits fund as a prior source of local support.
The Moderator recounted that the local Indian gaming supplemental benefits fund previously generated about $1 million to $1.5 million a year and that the governor later reallocated that money at the state level, removing the local distributions. "It was generated here locally, and then we sat on the commission and dispersed it... But then the governor wiped that fund out and took all the money to his office," the Moderator said. Committee members discussed the limited local authority to impose taxes on sovereign tribal lands and talked about whether outreach or letters to tribal governments might be appropriate to seek support for local services that respond to impacts from gaming operations.
