LLRIB Tax Rebate Issue to be Decided Today

LLRIB Tax Rebate Issue to be Decided Today

Thursday, May 27, 2004 at 13:04

Today’s the day the Lac La Ronge Indian Band decides what it will do with a multi-million-dollar gas and tobacco tax rebate it received from the province.

The chief and council will decide the issue at a meeting today in Prince Albert.

The issue has been a contentious one amongst band members and band councillors ever since the band was awarded the 4-million-dollar settlement.

The band received the money for taxes the provincial government collected on reserve that shouldn’t have been collected.

A group of band citizens has been holding public meetings in La Ronge trying to pressure the chief and council into leaving the decision to the people, possibly through a plebiscite.

But Chief Harry Cook has been adamant that the matter will be settled by the band’s elected officials.

There are 4 proposals currently on the table on how to split the money — all involving sharing the money between reserve communities, off-reserve members and on-reserve businesses that collected the taxes in the first place.