Patricia Schroeder: “I think unless we pass my amendment, the taxpayer is going to be in the tub for a tremendous amount of money. Because…”

“I think unless we pass my amendment, the taxpayer is going to be in the tub for a tremendous amount of money. Because what we forget is very often what the Federal Government is doing also increases the value of land by a significant amount. There are many areas where I can talk about that. If you look at dredging harbors, if you look at propping up beaches, if you look at planting trees, if you look at creating national parks, building roads, creating accessibility, all of these things give the land around it a much higher value. Is it not interesting that we ignore that? People will say to me, 'Oh, yeah, but then you tax the increased value.' Well, the Federal Government does not get that. That is the State government. I think many of the times when what we are going to hear is a taking, we could also flip that and find it as a making. In other words, what the Government might be doing is making the person's property much more valuable.”