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Associated Press reports that Senator Max Baucus (MT) and Senator Ron Wyden (OR) have come up with a plan to avoid selling 300,000 acres of American's public land.
As many here know, after cutting aid to rural communities, George Bush proposed selling 300,000 acres of US Forest Service land -- otherwise known as OUR LAND -- in order to raise $800 million for rural schools. Many senators denounced the plan, but in the past two weeks, Republican senators, such as Larry Craig of Idaho and Pete Domenici of New Mexico, have been slowing warming up to the idea.
Senators Baucus and Wyden now propose a way to raise $2.6 billion over the next 10 years for the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act. How? By closing a loophole that they say allows some government contractors to avoid paying their taxes.
According to the AP:
The proposal by Baucus and Wyden would provide a steady revenue stream for the rural schools program, commonly known as the county payments law, by closing a tax loophole in federal contracts, Baucus and Wyden said. Under current law, the federal government does not withhold taxes owed by federal contractors. The Democratic plan would withhold 3 percent upfront of federal payments for goods and services delivered by private contractors.
The money would be applied to taxes owed by the contractor, which in most cases far exceed 3 percent of their total contract. If the tax obligation is less than 3 percent, the contractor would be reimbursed, a Baucus spokesman said.
"This is not a new tax. It just makes sure we get the payments" from federal contractors, said Baucus spokesman Barrett Kaiser.
Wyden, who co-sponsored the original rural schools law in 2000, said rural communities throughout the country rely on the payments. "We cannot abandon them, and this legislation finds a fiscally responsible way of extending this successful law," Wyden said.
So will the Republicans support this, or will they confirm what we already suspect -- that this was a stunt to open up the sale of public land and not a genuine attempt to help rural communities. Now is the chance to determine if the Repugs have decided that our natural heritage is officially for sale -- in an election year.