The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) is intervening in a court case that could have enormous consequences for every Canadian. If the plaintiffs win, it could force Canada to adopt racially-based tax policies, with hundreds of thousands of Native people being exempt from taxes because of their ancestry, while other Canadians pick up the tab.

The case pits a number of individuals and groups against the federal government in a bid to exempt Treaty 8 Indians from all taxes for all time. Currently, only Natives living and working on reserves are exempt from taxes. The plaintiffs say that a universal tax exemption was promised in Treaty 8 (which covers parts of northern Alberta, Saskatchewan and BC), while the federal government disagrees. The case will undoubtedly set a crucial precedent about the tax status of Canada's Native people.

Imagine the implications if the plaintiffs win. In the next few decades the number of Native people in Saskatchewan will grow to a third of the population. How will we pay for important social programs or fix the roads if one-third of the population pays no taxes, and many other residents are retired from work Our economy could fall apart under the burden of high taxes while government services could be starved of money.

Victory for the plaintiffs would also be a proverbial poisoned chalice for Native people. Canadians want reserve Indians to start paying taxes as part of self-government negotiations, and many Indians realize that self-government requires self-support - the ability to raise money from your own people and businesses. But a universal race-based tax exemption for status Indians could even rob Indian governments of the ability to raise money from their own people, putting an end to self-government for all practical purposes. Indian people would be tax-free but powerless dependants of governments they do not support financially and are alienated from politically. This would cement the destructive paternalism that most Natives want to escape.

So there is a great deal at stake in this court case. And while the federal government nit-picks over the meaning of the treaty and the attached commissioner's report (which allegedly contains a "no tax" promise) the CTF has been arguing that the real issue is one of equality. Section 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees Canadians equality under the law without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour or religion. This provision should override any and all discriminatory laws or agreements. As a society, we should exempt people from paying taxes because they are too poor to pay, not because of some alleged historical entitlement based on ancestry.

The federal government is not making the equality argument - maybe for political reasons - so the CTF has been seeking to intervene in the case to defend the equality of Canadians in tax law. Last summer a judge dismissed the CTF's case. But late last week the Federal Court of Appeal saw things differently and granted intervenor status. The case will be heard this May in an Edmonton court room.

Should the plaintiffs in this case prevail it will lead to tax apartheid and inequality will be enshrined in our laws. Furthermore, the finances of our governments will be in doubt, the taxes of other citizens will increase, government services will deteriorate, the progress of Native people will be imperiled, and the relationship between Natives and other Canadians will be poisoned.

Few court cases have the potential to be so destructive.