(a) The Tribe maintains the power to tax transactions occurring on Yurok lands as a fundamental attribute of sovereignty. The United States Supreme Court has affirmed the Tribe’s power to tax nonmember activities on Indian lands as an essential attribute of Indian sovereignty in Washington v. Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, 447 U.S. 134 (1980), Merrion v. Jicarilla Apache Tribe, 455 U.S. 130 (1982), and Kerr-McGee Corp. v. Navajo Tribe, 471 U.S. 195 (1985).

(b) Tax revenues are essential to the Tribe’s ability to provide services to Tribal members and to finance government operations and economic development for the health and welfare of the Tribe, Tribal members, and those who live on, work on, or visit the Reservation.

(c) Tribal members and the Reservation community benefit from Tribal governmental services and programs, which supplement or replace other governmental programs and relieve other governments from the full burden of these programs.

(d) Tribal members, the Reservation community, and others visiting or conducting business on the Reservation benefit from various Tribal governmental services, including Tribal law enforcement, water systems to provide safe drinking water, comprehensive land use planning and regulation, Tribal roads, Tribal fisheries enforcement, fire protection, and social services and education programs.

(e) The full costs of these benefits are not covered by the programs and services and it is necessary for the Tribe to raise supplemental revenues locally to continue to provide these public services that are essential to the health, safety, welfare, and economic wellbeing of Tribal members, the Reservation community, and others visiting or conducting business on the Reservation. [Ord. 37 § 4002, adopted, 3/26/2014.]