Concurrent Resolution On The Budget, Fiscal Year 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. LEE. Mr. President, the Federal Government owns almost two-thirds of the land in Utah and almost half of the land in the 11 coterminous States in the Western United States. But unlike other property owners, the Federal Government does not pay property tax. As a result, areas with high concentrations of Federal land, such as most of Utah and most of the Western United States, face budget shortfalls that affect the ability of those States to fund critical education, transportation infrastructure, and emergency services.

To help compensate local governments for this loss of property tax revenue, the Federal Government created the PILT Program--PILT stands for Payment in Lieu of Taxes Program--to provide some funding for these revenue shortfalls.

Historically, PILT payments tend to represent just a tiny fraction, just pennies on the dollar for what these jurisdictions could otherwise collect in property tax revenue.

Now to correct the damage caused by this unfair system----

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time has expired.

Mr. LEE. I ask my colleagues to vote for this amendment which would allow us to bring PILT into conformity with what these jurisdictions would otherwise receive from taxation.

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