Some kooks have occupied a bird sanctuary
building in Oregon. At least that’s what you can get out if the news. Their reasons are all about how much land the
federal government owns out west and how poorly they manage it.
Arbitrary federal management of land out west
is notorious. It matters because the federal government owns between 30
to 60% of most western states. The size
of the federal debt is also notorious. We can solve both problems with a
single program. The federal government should sell western public land to
private parties in regular auctions to raise money to pay off federal debt.
This would help in two ways. First, it would bring in money
directly to the treasury. But secondly, it would also place the land
under the management of private owners who would have an incentive to develop
and use the land productively.
Placing federal land under state ownership
merely exchanges one bad landlord for another. Worse, it strips the
federal government of assets it can use to satisfy its creditors. Selling
the land is the best way to lessen the tax payers debt burden and at the same
time put the land into more productive use which would generate economic growth
and increased tax revenue without raising tax rates.
If Congress could tie the western land sales to the size of the
deficits, it would be perfect. All of the socialists who don't want to
sell western land would face a dilemma. If they did the usual borrow and
spend, land would be sold to make up the difference. If they budgeted
responsibly, they could keep western land in government hands, but only at the
cost of fewer votes purchased with federal free stuff.
No comments:
Post a Comment