HB 148 Utah Transfer of Public Lands Act

We Can’t Wait . . . Talking Points

 

The Federal Govt’s Promise to “Extinguish Title” (i.e. to transfer away title) to the

Public Lands is the Same for All States East and West of “The Federal Fault Line.”

 

Upon being admitted as a state, the federal government promised all new states that it would “extinguish title” (i.e. transfer away title) to all public lands. For all states east of Colorado (and for Hawaii), it has honored this promise.

 

Why hasn’t the federal government honored this promise with the western states?

 

See if this sounds familiar. The “western states” of 1828 repeatedly complained to congress that because it would not “extinguish title” to their public lands in a timely fashion:

 

•    They could not generate taxes from the lands;

•    Without tax revenues from the lands they could not adequately fund education;

•    They could not generate economic activity from the lands and as a result, they

          o lost jobs to other states and countries;

          o lost additional tax revenues and state development; and

•    Their industry was thwarted by the federal government refusing to dispose of mineral lands.

 

While the federal government controls more than 64% of the state of Utah today and more than 50% of all

lands in today’s “western states,” the federal government only controls about 4% of the lands in the 1828

“western states,” (Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, and even Florida). What’s more

amazing, these 1828 “western states” have the same language requiring the federal government to

“extinguish title” to their public lands as today’s “western states” do.

 

20th U.S. Congress, Public Lands Committee Report, February 5, 1828“If these lands are to be withheld . . . in vain may the People ofthese States expect the advantages of well settled neighborhoods,so essential to the education of youth . . . Those States will, formany generations, without some change, be retarded in endeavorsto increase their comfort and wealth, by means of works ofinternal improvements, because they have not the power,incident to all sovereign States, of taxing the soil, to pay for thebenefits conferred upon its owner by roads and canals. Whenthese States stipulated not to tax the lands of the United Statesuntil they were sold, they rested upon the implied engagement ofCongress to cause them to be sold, within a reasonable time. Nojust equivalent has been given those States for a surrender of anattribute of sovereignty so important to their welfare, and to anequal standing with the original States.”Why the difference? The 1828 “western states”:

• understood the federal government’s trust duty from 1780 forward to dispose of the public lands,

• understood the legal basis of their “solemn compact” rights of statehood to be able to tax and control their lands once disposed of in a timely manner;

• worked collectively and persistently to secure the full rights and benefits

promised in their “solemn compact” of statehood (i.e. Enabling Act); and

• for the benefit of their children, their wage earners, and their economic selfreliance,

they refused to take “NO” for answer from the federal government.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Problem:

 

Education Funding Gap

•      Utah is perpetually last in the nation in per pupil funding.

•      At nearly $3,700 below the national average, it would take $2.2 Billion a year to bring Utah’s 600,000 K-12 student just up to the national average.  Economic Self-Reliance Funding Gap

•      $5.2 Billion of Utah’s annual spending (more than 30% of Utah’s $13 Billion budget), comes from a federal government that is unsustainably broke ($16 Trillion national debt and still overspending by more than $1 Trillion per year)

•      Burdensome federal travel management restrictions and road closures cost Elko County, Nevada alone nearly $168 million a year in lost jobs and   economic activity.

Environmental Quality Gap

•      Failed federal policies have more than doubled the acreage and intensity of wildfires

          o destroying the national forests;

          o spewing billions of pounds of pollutants into the air;

          o releasing 20 times more mercury than all the coal plants in the nation combined; and

          o killing tens of millions of animals.

 

The Solution? Let’s Try to Tax Our Way Out of these Gaps:

•      Eliminate All Personal Exemptions -- $380 Million – your still nearly $2 Billion short of closing just the education funding gap, assuming you didn’t slow down the economy. You still have $5 Billion going away that come from a fiscally unsustainable federal government.

•      Double All Personal Income Taxes -- $2 Billion – assuming you didn’t drive families and business from the state and put the economy on life support (like Illinois did by raising income taxes by only 66%), you still have $5 Billion going away that come from a fiscally unsustainable federal government.

•      Raise Corporate Taxes by Nearly 1,000% -- $2 Billion – Congratulations! You have driven most businesses from the state, and along with it most jobs, driving down personal incomes and personal income taxes, property values and property taxes and you still have $5 Billion going away that come from a fiscally unsustainable federal government.

 

If We, and our Neighboring Western States, Refuse to Take “NO” for an Answer:

 

•      Utah has trillions of dollars in abundant natural resources that are tied up in public lands for which the federal government refuses to honor its promise to “extinguish title.”

•      Utah loses hundreds of millions of dollars because the federal government denies access to, or blocks consolidation of, Utah’s School Trust Lands.

•      Utah only gets 46% of the mineral lease royalties where states east of Colorado get 100%.

•      The federal government restricts use of and access to public lands and delays permits to develop our abundant natural resources costing the State billions in royalties and associated income taxes and increased economic activity.

•      Federal regulatory burden costs business and individuals billions of dollars and criminalizes many aspects of everyday personal and business conduct.

 

READ THE COMPLETE "TALKING POINTS" BY CLICKING HERE.