Navajo Nation Increases Sales Tax

Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly has signed off on a bill that boosts the tribe's sales tax by 1 percent.

The increase from 4 percent to 5 percent begins in January and is expected to generate as much as $8 million a year. That money will be split between the tribe's scholarship office and an economic development fund.

The Tribal Council approved had approved the tax measure last month.

Shelly says the added revenue will help Navajos with scholarships and decrease the tribe's dependence on federal funding

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.