Infrastructure Revitalization: Indian Country’s Unmet Needs Background. Indian Country’s infrastructure backlog is estimated to stand at more than $50 billion, covering the entire range of basic structures and systems. The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare the infrastructure shortfalls throughout Indian Country. Overcrowded homes, substandard health systems and facilities, and broken water systems all contributed to spreading the virus in Native communities. As schools closed, the lack of broadband made it impossible for many students to engage in remote learning. In addition to being a direct threat to the health of Native communities, these longstanding infrastructure disparities have served as a barrier to economic development in Indian Country for generations. The lack of basic infrastructure deters outside investment, leads to the loss of critical business opportunities and economic development projects, handcuffs Native entrepreneurs, and generally leaves much of Indian Country behind. Include Indian Country in National Infrastructure Revitalization. President Biden campaigned on a sprawling infrastructure agenda, with trillions of dollars invested in transportation, water and sewer lines, and the scaffoldings of an energy sector that significantly reduces the United States’ carbon emissions, funded by tax increases on multinational companies and high earners. Any infrastructure proposal must include direct federal funding to address the significant unmet infrastructure needs of Indian Country. Investing in Indian Country infrastructure will repair unsafe reservation roads for school children and public safety officials, spur short-term job growth through construction, foster long-term economic development by opening doors for Native entrepreneurs, and stabilize and diversify tribal economies for generations to come. These direct federal investments in Indian Country infrastructure should be coupled with innovative financing mechanisms to establish and strengthen tribal government-private sector partnerships and access to capital. The U.S. Tax Code provides broad tools to state and local governments to spur outside investment in infrastructure projects. While the $1.5 trillion Tax Cuts & Jobs Act of 2017 failed to include any tax reforms for Indian Country, infrastructure revitalization provides Congress with a new opportunity to reform the Tax Code to extend tax incentives to tribal governments, better enabling them to address long-standing infrastructure needs. Indian Country holds significant untapped economic potential, job growth, and small business development that could be unlocked with investments in Indian Country infrastructure—which can be built, in part, with targeted tax reform measures. Potential capital improvement proposals include: developing an investment bank to pool direct funding with private investment incentives to meet tribal infrastructure needs; enhancing existing federal loan guarantee programs that enable tribes to leverage limited capital; and focusing on telecommunications infrastructure to effectively increase opportunities for small Native businesses, streamline tribal government operations, and improve access to telehealthcare and education. Reforms to federal tax programs should address the lack of tribal access to or benefit from the Low Income Housing Tax Credit and New Markets Tax Credit programs; limitations imposed on tribes by the tax-exempt bond provisions of the Tribal Government Tax Status Act; and ensuring that the Build America Bonds or any similar new program provides direct funding to Indian Country or a significant set-aside for tribal governments. Direct access to these programs will spur tribal government-private sector partnerships to help rebuild Indian Country infrastructure, develop small business, and improve tribal government systems nationwide.
11
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs