Madawaska First Nation Chief Patricia Bernard says the community's new tax laws for tobacco and cannabis will give it a competitive advantage against off-reserve retailers. "Now you're going to be able to buy these goods cheaper on reserve, and it's going to likely cause some stir … amongst the chambers of commerce locally."īernard said the taxes that are now applied on tobacco and cannabis sold in Madawaska First Nation are as much as half the rate for similar products sold at neighbouring retailers off-reserve, giving the First Nation a competitive advantage. "It's really going to be unfortunate, because the whole purpose of these tax agreements was to create a fair playing field of sales taxes on- and off-reserve," Bernard said. In response to the province cancelling a series of tax revenue-sharing agreements it held with Wolastoqey First Nations, Madawaska has enacted its own cannabis and tobacco licensing act, allowing the band government to set a tax rate for those products and collect the revenues, says Chief Patricia Bernard. Madawaska First Nation has gone ahead and cut out the New Brunswick government from taxes collected on tobacco and cannabis sold on-reserve.
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