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The printed version remains the official version.
HONOURABLE IDA CHONG
MINISTER OF ABORIGINAL RELATIONS
AND RECONCILIATION
1. The Tla’amin Nation may make laws in respect of:
a. Direct taxation of Tla’amin Citizens within Tla’amin Lands in order to raise revenue for Tla’amin Nation purposes; and
b. the implementation of any taxation agreement entered into between the Tla’amin Nation and Canada or British Columbia.
2. The Tla’amin Nation law-making authority under subparagraph 1.a will not limit the taxation powers of Canada or British Columbia.
3. Notwithstanding paragraph 81 of the General Provisions Chapter, any Tla’amin Law made under this Chapter, or any exercise of power by Tla’amin Government, is subject to and will conform with International Legal Obligations respecting taxation, and paragraphs 24 to 29 of the General Provisions Chapter do not apply with respect to International Legal Obligations respecting taxation.
4. From time to time, at the request of the Tla’amin Nation, Canada and British Columbia, together or separately, may negotiate and attempt to reach agreement with the Tla’amin Nation respecting:
a. the extent to which the Direct taxation law-making authority of the Tla’amin Nation under subparagraph 1.a may be extended to apply to Persons, other than Tla’amin Citizens, within Tla’amin Lands; and
b. the manner in which the Tla’amin Nation law-making authority under subparagraph 1.a, as extended by the application of subparagraph 4.a, will be coordinated with existing federal or provincial tax systems, including:
i. the amount of tax room that Canada or British Columbia may be prepared to vacate in favour of taxes imposed by the Tla’amin Nation; and
ii. the terms and conditions under which Canada or British Columbia may administer, on behalf of the Tla’amin Nation, taxes imposed by the Tla’amin Nation.
5. Notwithstanding the provisions of the Governance Chapter, parties to an agreement contemplated under paragraph 4 may provide for an alternative approach to the appeal, enforcement or adjudication of matters relating to a Tla’amin Law in respect of taxation.
6. A Tla’amin Law with respect to taxation may provide for:
a. a fine that is greater than the limits set out in paragraph 149 of the Governance Chapter; or
b. a term of imprisonment that is greater than the limit set out in paragraph 151 of the Governance Chapter,
where there is an agreement to that effect as contemplated under paragraph 4.
7. The Tla’amin Nation is not subject to capital taxation, including real property taxes and taxes on capital or wealth, with respect to the estate or interest of the Tla’amin Nation in Tla’amin Lands on which there are no improvements or on which there is a designated improvement.
8. In paragraph 7, "designated improvement" means:
a. a residence of a Tla’amin Citizen;
b. an improvement, all or substantially all of which is used for a public purpose or a purpose ancillary or incidental to a public purpose, including:
i. a public governance or administration building, public meeting building, public hall, public school or other public educational institution, teacherage, public library, public health facility, public care facility, public seniors home, public museum, place of public worship, manse, fire hall, police facility, court, correction facility, public recreation facility, public park or an improvement used for Tla’amin cultural or spiritual purposes;
ii. works of public convenience constructed or operated for the benefit of Tla’amin Citizens, occupiers of Tla’amin Lands or individuals visiting or in transit through Tla’amin Lands, including public utility works, public works used to treat or deliver water or as part of a public sewer system, public roads, public bridges, public drainage ditches, traffic signals, street lights, public sidewalks and public parking lots; or
iii. similar improvements;
c. an improvement that is used primarily for the management, protection or enhancement of a natural resource, including a Forest Resource, a fishery, avian or wildlife resource or water, other than an improvement that is used primarily in harvesting or processing a natural resource for profit; and
d. Forest Resources and forest roads.
9. In subparagraph 8.b, "public purpose" does not include the provision of property or services primarily for the purpose of profit.
10. For the purposes of paragraphs 7 and 8:
a. for greater certainty, Tla’amin Lands include the improvements on those lands; and
b. an improvement is deemed to be on the land that is necessarily ancillary to the use of the improvement.
11. For greater certainty, the exemption from taxation in paragraph 7 does not apply to a taxpayer other than the Tla’amin Nation nor does it apply with respect to a disposition of Tla’amin Lands, or interests in those lands, by the Tla’amin Nation.
12. For federal and provincial income tax purposes, proceeds of disposition received by the Tla’amin Nation on expropriation of Tla’amin Lands in accordance with the Lands Chapter are not taxable.
13. A transfer of Tla’amin Capital under this Agreement and a recognition of ownership of Tla’amin Capital under this Agreement are not taxable.
14. For purposes of paragraph 13, an amount paid to a Tla’amin Citizen is deemed to be a transfer of Tla’amin Capital under this Agreement where the payment:
a. can reasonably be considered to be a distribution of a Capital Transfer received by the Tla’amin Nation; and
b. becomes payable within 90 days and is paid within 270 days from the date that the Tla’amin Nation receives the Capital Transfer.
15. For federal and provincial income tax purposes, Tla’amin Capital is deemed to have been acquired by the Tla’amin Nation at a cost equal to its fair market value on the later of:
a. the Effective Date; and
b. the date of transfer of ownership under this Agreement or the date of recognition of ownership under this Agreement, as the case may be.
16. Section 87 of the Indian Act will have no application to a Tla’amin Citizen:
a. with respect to Transaction Taxes, as of the first day of the first month after the eighth anniversary of the Effective Date; and
b. with respect to all other taxes, as of the first day of the first calendar year after the twelfth anniversary of the Effective Date.
17. Subject to subparagraphs 1.a and 4.a and paragraphs 18 to 21, as of the Effective Date, the following is exempt from taxation:
a. the interest of an Indian in Tla’amin Lands that were an Indian Reserve or Surrendered Lands on the day before the Effective Date;
b. the personal property of an Indian situated on Tla’amin Lands that were an Indian Reserve on the day before the Effective Date; and
c. an Indian with respect to the ownership, occupation, possession or use of any property mentioned in subparagraph 17.a or 17.b.
18. Paragraph 17 will cease to be effective:
a. with respect to Transaction Taxes, as of the first day of the first month after the eighth anniversary of the Effective Date; and
b. with respect to all other taxes, as of the first day of the first calendar year after the twelfth anniversary of the Effective Date.
19. Paragraph 17 will be interpreted to exempt an Indian with respect to a property or interest, or with respect to the ownership, occupation, possession or use thereof, in the same manner and under the same conditions under which section 87 of the Indian Act would have applied, but for this Agreement, if the property were situated on, or the interest were in, an Indian Reserve.
20. Paragraph 17 only applies to an Indian during the period that section 87 of the Indian Act applies to that individual.
21. Where the Tla’amin Nation imposes a tax within Tla’amin Lands and concludes a tax agreement for that purpose with Canada or British Columbia as contemplated in paragraph 4, paragraph 17 does not apply to the extent that the Tla’amin Nation, Canada or British Columbia, as the case may be, imposes a tax that the particular taxation agreement specifies is applicable to Tla’amin Citizens and other Indians within Tla’amin Lands.
22. The Parties will enter into a tax treatment agreement, which will come into effect on the Effective Date.
23. Canada and British Columbia will recommend to Parliament and the Legislature, respectively, that the tax treatment agreement be given effect and force of law under federal and provincial legislation.