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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Lovejoy

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/22/08

HB

SHORT TITLE Investigate Certain Utility Tax Collection

SJM 4

ANALYST Cox

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received

Attorney ‘General’s Office (AGO)

Public Regulation Commission (PRC)

Taxation and Revenue Department (TRD)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Joint Memorial 4 addresses the investigation of tax collection on public services. These

public services include, but may not be limited to, all utilities and telecommunications services

offered on Native American sovereign lands. The Joint Resolution stated that non-tribal utilities

and telecommunications companies are not permitted to collect State and county taxes for

services provided to Native Americans residing on tribal lands, but continue to do so, in certain

cases. This Joint Memorial requests that the Attorney General’s office, The Public Regulation

Commission, and the Taxation & Revenue Department conduct investigations into these tax

collections. These three agencies are then required to report their findings to the interim Indian

Affairs Committee by September 30, 2008. This Joint Memorial has applicability to the Navajo

Nation, the Jicarilla and Mescalero Nations, as well as the nineteen (19) Indian pueblos.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

As this is a Memorial, it requests no funding or appropriations. Added Agency manpower may

be required at the above three Agencies (AG, PRC and TRD). This may require clerical

manpower and/or employees whose skill set are above clerical. The employee(s) will be called

upon to prepare careful reports. The timeframe for this added manpower is from July 1, 2008 to

September 30, 2008. PRC projects a fiscal impact of $25,000 to address this issue.

Attorney General’s Office states that this Joint Memorial could impact their budget, as no

additional funds are requested.

SIGNIFICANT IMPLICATIONS

Depending upon the complexity of the data and the availability of data, this timeframe may be

Senate Joint Memorial 4 – Page 2

too short. Before recommending the salary and benefits on the new added manpower, the three

abovementioned agencies should be contacted, as to availability and cost of man-power.

Public Regulation Commission reports that the Agency needs an additional $25,000 for this

Senate Joint Memorial. This would be for contracting with an external provider for a study.

Attorney General’s Office reports that the timeframe s too short, and probably inadequate. AGO

also states that Native Americans are statutorily exempt for paying utility taxes on Tribal lands.

AGO further states that the utility providers suggest that a solution is for these individuals to ‘opt

out’ of tax charges . This would be on a ‘case by case’ basis.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

There is vagueness as to whether the three above-mentioned Agencies have the manpower to

achieve the purpose of this Joint Memorial.

TECHNICAL ISSUES

The format of the report(s) and the data to be collected have not been identified.

POSSIBLE QUESTIONS

What types of data need to be gathered. To what purpose will the data be used.

PRC/bb