State legislation to expand property tax relief for all Native American tribes is stirring up controversy in the Santa Ynez Valley, especially because the Chumash sponsored the bill. Existing law exempts federally recognized tribes — as sovereign nations — from paying property taxes on all reservation land. But applications to increase reservation acreage often get stuck in lengthy appeals with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) bureaucracy. This bill would give tribes tax exemption on land still under consideration. (Click Here to Read Full Story)
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