National Forest Contributions to Local Governments

Abstract

T HE field of federal-state-local fiscal relations is receiving more attention at the present time than it has for many years past. An indication of the importance attached to this subject was the establishment 1953, by Public Law 109 of the 83d Congress, of the Commission on Inter-governmental Relations (COIR). Among the subjects considered by the Commission is that of payments of taxes and shared revenues on account of real property federal ownership--long a difficult problem the area of public administration. The federal Constitution, as construed by the courts, exempts federal property from taxation, except as Congress by statute may permit. As a matter of equity between federal and local taxpayers, however, Congress has from time to time provided for sharing of revenues, payments of taxes, or outright local taxation of federal property. The legal pattern is varied and complex. A recent report prepared by the Legislative Reference Service of the Library of Congress lists more than 50 provisions of law under which federal agencies are making in lieu payments of one kind or another to local governments.' Among the many types of payment now effect those relating to the national forests are of particular interest for several reasons. First, national forest contributions, originally established nearly 50 years ago, represent one of the oldest of such arrangements. Second, national forest payments apply to roughly 10 percent of the land area of the continental United States and are thus one of the most extensive of such plans. Third, national forest payments have increased over the years to more than $15 million annually; they represent one of the largest contributions of taxes turned over to the states and their political subdivisions by the federal government.