[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 14879]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            THE TRIBAL GENERAL WELFARE EXCLUSION ACT OF 2013

  (Ms. JENKINS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. JENKINS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3043, the Tribal 
General Welfare Exclusion Act.
  Under what is known as the general welfare doctrine, the IRS excludes 
a broad array of public services for purposes such as education, public 
safety, health, housing, and culture from taxation; however, this has 
not always been the case for tribal nations.
  Recently, the IRS has challenged tribal general welfare programs, 
despite many of these being nearly identical to tax exempt programs 
provided by Federal, State, and local governments.
  Members of the Prairie Band of Potawatomi Nation, the Kickapoo, Iowa, 
and the Sac and Fox Nation in Kansas have all voiced their concerns to 
me about invasive IRS audits and examinations that seek to tax 
government programs and benefits to their members.
  This bicameral and bipartisan legislation will positively affect many 
Native Americans and is an important step in bringing IRS treatment of 
the tribes in line with how they are currently treating States.

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