CONGRESSIONAL RECORD -- SENATE
March 22, 1967
Page 7548
PROPERTY TAXES IN FEDERAL ENCLAVES
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, I am pleased to introduce, for appropriate reference, a bill to permit States or other duly constituted taxing authorities to subject persons to liability for payment of taxes on property located in Federal areas within such States, under specified conditions.
Mr. President, this proposal, which is similar to a bill which I introduced in the 89th Congress, would amend title 4 of the United States Code to permit States and local taxing jurisdictions to subject personal property located in Federal areas to property taxes, on the condition that residents of these enclaves would be extended the same rights, privileges, and public services as those available to other citizens of the State. It would not affect property owned by the Federal Government.
Hearings on this measure were held before the Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations in June 1966. Subsequently, the bill was amended, and reported to the Committee on Government Operations in late September, with a recommendation that it pass. However, no further action was taken.
Mr. President, during hearings on this measure last year, it was determined that some 440,000 American citizens reside in enclaves under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Federal Government; an additional half million citizens live in jurisdictions which include -- at least in part -- the exclusive jurisdiction of the Federal Government.
The Federal Government holds nearly 6 million acres under exclusive legislative jurisdiction. In these areas, States and localities can exercise their governmental powers only to the extent that Congress gives its consent.
In these exclusive jurisdiction areas, privately owned property is beyond the taxing authority of the States and local areas. Residents of these jurisdictions usually cannot vote in State and local elections. They cannot serve on juries, or run for public office. In many enclaves, they cannot claim the right of access to State and local schools, other public institutions, facilities, and services. Finally, they cannot avail themselves of the full benefit of State laws or the judicial process relating to adoption, the probate of wills, the descent and distribution of property, marriage, and divorce, as well as other civil matters.
Over the years, the Congress has consented to the imposition of most kinds of State and local taxes within these enclaves. Thus, citizens are not immune to the payment of taxes on income, on the sales of automotive fuels, on sales taxes, as well as a number of other State and locally imposed taxes. The primary remaining tax immunity for residents of these enclaves is largely confined to property taxes on privately owned property.
Legislation to remove this final tax immunity has been attempted over the years. One approach has been for the Congress to retrocede jurisdiction over individual enclaves. Another effort has been simply to amend the Buck Act to include private property. A third involves the retrocession to States of legislative jurisdiction over some or all of these areas on an enclave-by-enclave basis by Federal agency heads under specified conditions. All of these approaches have been inadequate.
Congressional handling of the problem on a case-by-case basis ignores the larger problem of all the rights of enclave residents. The other two approaches do not provide assurances that States will extend the concomitant public services, privileges, and rights of State citizens to the residents of these areas.
The bill I am introducing today, like the one I introduced in the last Congress, constitutes a fourth approach. It is one which clearly provides the assurances that the earlier ones lacked.
It provides assurance that, as a condition of congressional consent to the imposition of personal property taxes on property located in Federal enclaves, the same rights and privileges of State citizens will be extended to residents in areas over which the Federal Government exercises exclusive jurisdiction. This would be accomplished through a process of certification by an agency designated by the President that residents of Federal enclaves would be granted the same rights, privileges, and access to public services as are available to other State residents.
Mr. President, I believe that many Members of this body are familiar with the problem to which this proposal addresses itself. This is an old, nagging problem whose solution is sorely needed and long overdue. Other Senators in other years have grappled with the problem, but it has so far defied solution. I believe that this measure is an answer to this difficult problem, and I am hopeful that it will receive widespread support in the Congress this year.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The bill will be received and appropriately referred.
The bill (S. 1364) to permit States or other duly constituted taxing authorities to subject persons to liability for payment of property taxes on property located in Federal areas within such States under specified conditions, introduced by Mr. MUSKIE, was received, read twice by its title, and referred to the Committee on Government Operations.