Policy Brief  

Self-Government, Taxation, and Tribal Development: The Critical Role of American Indian Nation Business Enterprises

This policy brief analyzes the likely effects of newly Proposed Rules by the U.S. Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service. These Rules would (1) expand the governmental authority of federally recognized American Indian nations to design programs for the general welfare of their citizens, and (2) clarify the federal tax status of tribal government-owned enterprises. The study finds that adoption of the Proposed Rules would greatly strengthen the capacities of tribal governments, to the benefit of tribes and the United States as a whole.

Figure 1: Growth in Real (inflation-adjusted) Per Capita Income: Indian Country v. the U.S. as a Whole (1989=100)
Adoption of the Proposed Rule will immediately foster improved access to credit and directly enhance resources needed for economic development, service provision, and infrastructure investment across America’s Native nations. The tribal and non-tribal citizens of the United States will benefit. Photo of Joseph Kalt sitting with a notebook.

Joseph Kalt

Ford Foundation Professor of International Political Economy, Emeritus

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Social and Economic Changes in American Indian Reservations: A Databook of the US Census and the American Community Survey, Third Edition 1990-2020
Per Capita Income Change 2010-2020 graph

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From the Harvard Project on Indigenous Governance and Development comes an updated third edition of a data book providing summary statistics for American Indian tribal communities in the lower 48 states using the public-use US Census and the American Community Survey data.

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Media Release

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