With medical marijuana legal in most states and recreational marijuana in a growing number, there is still much talk about taxing the profits. Some fear that the industry will be taxed to death, and that the continuing federal tax problems of section 280E of the tax code, the industry faces a tax double whammy. That’s one reason Native Americans might have a clever work-around. Native American gaming is big business, so why not Native American marijuana?
In 1987’s California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians, the Supreme Court ruled that in states that permit gaming, tribes can conduct gaming on Native American lands unhindered by state regulation. A year later, Congress enacted the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988, creating a regulatory framework for gaming on Indian lands. Today, Native American tribes are looking to expand beyond casinos into marijuana, legal for medical use in 29 states and for recreational use in 7.
As governments try to exact on taxes to cash in, the idea of a tax-free ticket to the industry is not lost on Native Americans. Some tribes are considering changes to tribal laws as well as looking at commercial opportunities.
