5.05.050 Tribal Taxing Authority.
(A) Authority. The Tribe hereby authorizes the Karuk Tribal Housing Authority for Tribal housing and construction projects, and the Karuk Tribal Fiscal Department for all other taxable business activities occurring on Tribal lands, to act as the Karuk Tribal Taxing Authority (“KTTA”) to administer and enforce the provisions of this chapter. The KTTA shall act as a branch of the Tribal government necessary or convenient to the administration and enforcement of this chapter; provided the Karuk Tribal Housing Authority adopts a resolution of its governing board or otherwise lawfully obligates itself to administer and enforce its duties under this chapter.
(B) Powers. In order to administer and enforce the provisions of this chapter, the KTTA shall have the power to:
(1) Appoint one (1) or more officials to act as tax officials and to specify that said officials shall have the right to assess and collect sales taxes according to regulations adopted by the KTTA and approved by the Tribe in accordance with its Constitution;
(2) To adopt regulations governing taxpayer reporting responsibilities, procedures for enforcing reporting and payment compliance, assessing tax liability, collecting taxes that are due but unpaid, and for remitting collected taxes to the Tribe. Said regulations shall only become effective fifteen (15) days after the KTTA provides a copy of the proposed regulations to the Tribal Council and the Tribal Council either fails to make any comment during that period or approves the regulations. If the Tribal Council disapproves any portion of the proposed regulations, it shall specify its objections and how the regulations shall become effective immediately without further notice to the Tribe, except that a copy of the adopted regulations shall be promptly provided to the Tribe. The regulations shall, at minimum, include procedures for:
(a) Providing taxpayers with notice of assessed tax liability and the opportunity for an informal hearing before the KTTA before the matter is submitted to the administrative division of the Karuk Tribal Court.
(b) Protecting the taxpayer from paying both a state tax and a Tribal sales tax with respect to the same sale by providing a procedure whereby the taxpayer can establish to the satisfaction of the KTTA that it has done everything legally required under state law to exempt the sale from state sales tax and that the State Board of Equalization nevertheless has assessed and demands payment of the state sales tax with respect to the sale.
(c) Providing that all sales taxes collected by the KTTA shall be deposited in a separate interest bearing account to the credit of the appropriate Tribal department until remitted to the Tribe and that the appropriate Tribal department’s share of all taxes collected with respect to a sale shall be remitted to it within three (3) months after the time to appeal any decisions of the KTTA with respect to the sale has expired or final decisions of the KTTA have been rendered after appeal or any challenge to a state sales tax is finally resolved.
(i) In the case of sales tax imposed in connection with a contractor’s performance of a construction contract on Tribal lands, said taxes shall be remitted to the appropriate Tribal department within three (3) months after final payment has been made to the contractor, unless the KTTA has exercised its option to challenge the state sales tax in which case the funds shall be remitted to the appropriate Tribal department three (3) months after the challenge is finally resolved in favor of the KTTA;
(3) Withhold and collect (offset) the amount of any unpaid taxes from any payments due to the taxpayer from the KTTA or the Tribe. Payments subject to such tax withholding include payments for goods or services, loan or debt repayments, per capita payments, earnings or other payments, obligations or monies subject to such withholding. For purposes of collecting such taxes only, the Tribe hereby assigns to the KTTA any such current and future payments due to any delinquent taxpayer; and
(4) To take any other action necessary to administer or enforce this chapter, including filing in its own name or the Tribe’s name a collections action in any court of competent jurisdiction to collect sales taxes that are due but unpaid.
(C) Administrative Fee. To reimburse the KTTA for the cost of administering this chapter, including but not limited to staff time, supply and postage costs, legal fees and expenses and related overhead expenses, the Karuk Tribal Housing Authority division of the KTTA shall retain fifty (50) percent of all sales taxes collected for Tribal housing and construction projects under this chapter and shall pursuant to subsection (B)(2)(c) of this section remit to the Tribe as its share the balance of all such taxes collected.
(D) Resolving Disputes. The KTTA and the Tribe shall make every effort to resolve disputes with other business entities informally. If the parties are not able to resolve the matter informally, an informal hearing before the KTTA will be set, pursuant to KTTA procedures. Only after such informal dispute resolution attempts fail, shall the parties be subject to the jurisdiction of the administrative division of the Karuk Tribal Court.
Should the governing body of the Tribe dispute or object to any action of the KTTA or its tax officials, it shall notify the KTTA in writing of its complaint within fifteen (15) days of the action to which it objects, unless through the exercise of reasonable diligence it could not, within that time period, have discovered that the action occurred, in which case written notice shall be given within fifteen (15) days of the date the Tribe first learns of the action. The notice shall specify the action, the Tribe’s complaint and actions that the KTTA can take to correct the problem. If within fifteen (15) days from the date of notice, the KTTA has not corrected the problem to the Tribe’s satisfaction, the Tribe may pursue a proceeding in the administrative division of the Karuk Tribal Court, pursuant to that forum’s rules of court and procedure.
(E) Notice. Whenever notice is required under this chapter, it shall be deemed given when personally delivered or deposited in the U.S. mail with proper postage affixed thereto and addressed to the party to whom the notice is given as provided in an official statement of the party’s address on file with the Tribe and the KTTA. A taxpayer shall file its official statement of address with the KTTA. [Res. 05-R-112 § 4.5, 9/1/2005.]