Report Calls for End to Tax Exemptions for Residents of First Nations Reserves

Tax exemptions for indigenous people who live on First Nations reserves are unfair and serve no justifiable purpose, according to a new report that calls for scrapping the exemptions. “This special privilege applying to the approximately one million Registered Indians in Canada has no logical foundation and serves no obvious purpose of public policy,” says the report, “The Section 87 Indian Act Taxation Exemption: An Analysis,” by Tom Flanagan for the Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy. “Its main outcome has been to generate resentment by the other 39 million Canadians who are required to pay taxes on income and sales.” Mr. Flanagan, a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Calgary, says the tax exemption has long been controversial....