Tax Department

Melanie McFalls, Tax Director & TERO

The Tax Director duties essentially are defined by the Title 11 – Licensing and Taxation Ordinance adopted by the Fallon Business Council on October 23, 2013. The intent of the ordinance is to address the economic development efforts being undertaken by the Tribe and the Fallon Tribe Development Corporation to attract businesses to tribal lands, and to reflect the operational procedures of the Tribe and Tax Department including collection of taxes and business licensing procedures. The Tax ordinance will provide for a revenue source and will more equitably distribute the burden of financing Tribal Government services among all persons who benefit from Tribal Government services. The Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe has existed as an independent, sovereign nation since time immemorial and has the power to levy taxes and similar actions as an inherent and essential part of the authority as a sovereign government. In Merrion v. Jicarilla Apache Tribe, 455 U.S. 130, 141 (1982), the United States Supreme Court held that the tribe’s authority to tax, “derives from the tribe’s general authority, as sovereign, to control economic activity within its jurisdiction, and to defray the cost of providing governmental services by requiring contributions from persons or enterprises engaged in economic activities within that jurisdiction” and that the power to tax is “an inherent power necessary to tribal self-government and territorial management.”

* Melanie McFalls, Tax Director

* Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe

Tax Department

565 Rio Vista Drive

Fallon, NV 89406

775-423-6075, ext. 241

775-423-5202, Fax

taxdirector@fpst.org