Taxes And Public Lands
An interchange on the floor of the House of Representatives yesterday revealed some of the dishonesty used to oppose the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009. The legislation, if signed into law, will add protection to large areas of public lands.
Congressman Rob Bishop of Utah, however, spoke against the bill, claiming that it would harm public education in his state by taking land off the tax rolls. Representative Bishop argued,
“We have difficulties in Utah in being able to fund our roads and to pay for our colleges and to pay for our public education, and it goes back to this basic fact: We are not just creating nice, pretty vistas again. We have an ancillary harm that takes place to real kids. I’m sorry, Mr. Speaker. My kids in Utah are more important to me than a park that is created that the National Park Service does not want. It is more important to me than a wild and scenic river that is created when it violates the standards of the Wild and Scenic River Act. My kids are more important to me than heritage areas that are chaotically done because my kids’ future is harmed by these decisions.”
Earl Blumenauer of Oregon rose in response. Congressman Blumenauer made a few simple points in his rebuttal. First, there aren’t any new federal lands provided for in the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, so the legislation won’t take any lands off the tax rolls, as Representative Bishop suggested would take place. Secondly, Blumenauer pointed out that the federal government already compensates local governments for the loss of tax revenues from public lands that already exist. The federal government provides Payment In Lieu of Taxes (PILT).
So, as passionate as Rob Bishop’s what about the children argument may have been, the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 doesn’t actually harm children at all. In fact, it helps them, by keeping the environment clean, and by strengthening local economies that benefit from the money spent by people who come to visit national park and other public lands.
The Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 was passed by the House yesterday, and was already passed by the Senate. It is now up to President Obama to sign the bill into law.
