Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, as you know--I think everyone knows this much--much of the land in the Western States is controlled by whom? The Federal Government. In my own home State of Utah, about two-thirds of the land is owned and controlled by the Federal Government. Because States cannot tax this Federal Government land, it means that about two-thirds of the land in Utah cannot be taxed. This, as you can imagine, presents enormous challenges for Western States when they are trying to raise sufficient funds for things like public education. Recognizing this challenge, Congress made sizable land grants to the Western States, but it was based on the condition that granted lands be held in trust and used to generate revenue for education and other worthy causes. Since the time State lands trust grants were made, large areas of the West have been designated for Federal protection. This has resulted in these trust lands being encapsulated inside federally protected lands, creating land management conflicts that are just enormous and very difficult to overcome. Once again, the end result is that you have reduced revenues for our children in Utah, and we have a challenge finding sufficient revenue to educate them. It is clearly in the best interest of States and the Federal Government to transfer ownership of some of these trust lands to the Federal Government in exchange for less sensitive and revenue- generating lands transferred to the State.…”