What would Utah’s 35 million acres of federally managed public lands be worth if they were privately owned?
Figuring that out would be a daunting task, but state leaders believe it a worthwhile exercise because it could show how much tax revenue Utah is deprived of because of the prevalence of public lands in the Beehive State.
“We had a promise made in 1976 when the federal government said they were going to withhold our lands: We [Utah] would be paid in lieu of taxes,” Rep. Ken Ivory, R-West Jordan, told a legislative management committee Tuesday seeking authorization to hire consultants to help develop a method for valuing vast reaches of federal land.