"Late last month the U.S. Treasury announced $3.6 billion in New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) allocations. Now the dust has settled and project sponsors—cities, counties, private developers, non-profits and others—are positioning their projects to take advantage of NMTC financing. Now is the time for tribal leaders to do the same. As a Tribal Chairman I am always looking for new ways to attract outside capital to my reservation and neighboring community. I can use the NMTC to offer an incentive that makes my tribe’s lands stand out to potential private investors.

The NMTC was just replenished, but it remains a very scarce resource. In fact, unless Congress acts to re-authorize the program this ninth annual allocation will be the last. That means project sponsors—Tribes, non-profits serving Native communities, Alaska Native Corporations, Native Hawaiian groups, individual Native Entrepreneurs—must move quickly to tap this resource. Tribal leaders need to discuss NMTC re-authorization in all of their conversations with Congress. Also, moving quickly to take advantage of NMTC opportunities in Indian Country will create even more NMTC availability for tribal economic development projects. In other words, what in NMTCs we don’t use, we may lose."

Get the Story:
Tex Hall: Position Your Tribal Community as a New Market (Indian Country Today 3/15)