§21 Untitled Section

Summary

The State of North Carolina may tax land and other property owned by the band or its members, except money the United States holds in trust, through the tax year that comes right after this Act is approved. For that time, the band must pay those taxes from its shared funds, unless the land was lawfully sold before state tax assessments could be made. Any taxes put on restricted allotments or undivided tribal land held in U.S. trust can be changed by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for one year after those taxes appear on the local tax rolls. If the Commissioner does nothing in that year, the assessments stay as they are, and people who received allotments keep any state-law remedies they would otherwise have. Restricted and undivided property cannot be sold for unpaid taxes and no late penalties can be charged for two years after the taxes are due, so Congress can decide how to pay them if tribal funds are not enough. After the tax year that follows the Act’s approval ends, allotted lands whose sale restrictions have been removed will be taxed like other lands. But from that same date forward, allotments that are still restricted and undivided tribal property remain exempt from taxation until the restrictions are lifted or the band’s title to the undivided land ends.