Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 68 Part 1.djvu/284

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252 Property title transfer.

Income tax.

Publi c a t i o n in FR.

Rights of minors, etc.

Regulations.

Separability.

PUBLIC LiAW 399-JUNE 17, 1954

[68

STAT.

SEC. 8. The Secretary is hereby authorized and directed to transfer to the tribe, on December 31, 1958, or on such earlier date as may be agreed upon by the tribe and the Secretary, the title to all property, real and personal, held in trust by the United States for the tribe: Provided, however, That if the tribe obtains a charter for a corporation or otherwise organizes under the laws of a State or of the District of Columbia for the purpose, among any others, of taking title to all tribal lands and assets and enterprises owned by the tribe or held in trust by the United States for the tribe^ and requests such transfer to be made to such corporation or organization, the Secretary shall make such transfer to such corporation or organization. SEC. 9. No distribution of the assets made under the provisions of this Act shall be subject to any Federal or State income tax: Provided, That so much of any cash distribution made hereunder as consists of a share of any interest earned on funds deposited in the Treasury of the United States pursuant to the Supplemental Appropriation Act, 1952 (65 Stat. 736, 754), shall not by virtue of this Act be exempt from individual income tax in the hands of the recipients for the year in which paid. Following any distribution of assets made under the provisions of this Act, such assets and any income derived therefrom in the hands of any individual, or any corporation or organization as provided in section 8 of this Act, shall be subject to the same taxes. State and Federal, as in the case of non-Indians, except that any valuation for purposes of Federal income tax on gains or losses shall take as the basis of the particular taxpayer the value of the property on the date title is transferred by the United States pursuant to section 8 of this Act. SEC. 10, When title to the property of the tribe has been transferred, as provided in section 8 of this Act, the Secretary shall publish in the Federal Register an appropriate proclamation of that fact. Thereafter individual members of the tribe shall not be entitled to any of the services performed by the United States for Indians because of their status as Indians, all statutes of the United States which affect Indians because of their status as Indians shall no longer be applicable to the members of the tribe, and the laws of the several States shall apply to the tribe and its members in the same manner as they apply to other citizens or persons within their jurisdiction. Nothing in this Act shall affect the status of the members of the tribe as citizens of the United States. SEC. 11. Prior to the transfer pursuant to section 8 of this Act, the Secretary shall protect the rights of members of the tribe who are less than eighteen years of age, non compos mentis, or in the opinion of the Secretary in need of assistance in conducting their affairs, by caus^ing the appointment of guardians for such members in courts of competent jurisdiction, or by such other means as he may deem adequate. SEC. 12. The Secretary is authorized and directed to promulgate such rules and regulations as are necessary to effectuate the purposes of this Act. SEC. 13. If any provision of this Act, or the application thereof to any person or circumstance, is held invalid, the remainder of the Act and the application of such provision to other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby. Approved June 17, 1954.