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Show Garn Pleased With Action On "In lieu" Bill Senator Jake Garn (R-Ut.) says that he is pleased and grateful that the President last week signed the Payment in Lieu of taxes bill. The legislation provides for the Federal government to pay counties for Federal lands which cannot be taxed. Garn says he and members of his staff have been on the phone to the White House "several times since Congress passed the bill," urging the President to sign it. "Public land states such as Utah should be particularly pleased that this legislation is now law," said Senator Garn. "Some of our counties in Utah have in excess of eighty per cent of their total land area owned by the Federal government. govern-ment. Since county officials have not been able to tax that land, it has been very difficult for them to provide necessary county services such as roads, bridges and sewage treatment facilities. And that says nothing about the inordinately large tax burden that other property owners have had to bear as a result of living in a "Federal land" county. "Utah is not the only State affected; more than 1000 counties in 48 states have been impacted by large holdings of tax-exempt federally feder-ally owned lands. "This is actually one of the most sensible bills from the 94th congress to become law. It stands to reason that, if it is necessary for large parcels of land to be retained in federal ownership, it should be the obligation of the federal government to make certain that the burden of that policy is spread among all the people of the country and not borne solely by those in whose areas the lands are located. "We don't know at this time exactly how much Utah will receive under the Payment in Lieu law because the formula was being adjusted riht up to the moment the bill passed. However, it appears that we will receive somctliing in excess of seven million dollars." |