    [Analytical Perspectives]
    [Federal Receipts and Collections]
    [4. User Fees and Other Collections]
    [From the U.S. Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov]

      In addition to collecting taxes and other governmental receipts by the
    exercise of its sovereign powers, the Federal Government earns income
    from its various business-type activities. Examples of this income
    include the sale of postage stamps and electricity, the collection of
    fees for admittance to national parks, premiums for deposit insurance,
    and rents and royalties for the right to extract oil from the Outer
    Continental shelf. Because these collections stem from business-type
    activities, as opposed to exercise of sovereign powers, they are
    subtracted from gross outlays rather than added to the taxes and other
    governmental receipts discussed in the previous chapter. Because these
    collections reduce outlays, they are called ``offsetting collections.''
    The purpose of this treatment is to produce budget totals for receipts,
    outlays, and budget authority in terms of the amount of resources
    allocated governmentally, through collective political choice rather
    than through the market.
      Offsetting collections are classified into two major categories:
    offsetting receipts, which are deposited in receipt accounts; and
    offsetting collections credited to appropriations (expenditure)
    accounts, which are deposited directly in these accounts and usually can
    be spent without further action by the Congress. Both categories include
    collections from other accounts within the Government as well as the
    public. Chapter 24, ``Budget System and Concepts,'' explains the
    budgetary treatment of these collections more fully.
      The term ``user fee'' is not a budgetary category. It is a general
    term that refers to amounts assessed against identifiable recipients for
    special benefits derived from Federal activities beyond those received
    by the general public. Depending primarily on whether the user charge is
    based on the Government's sovereign power or business-type activity, it
    may be classified as a governmental receipt or an offsetting collection.
      As shown in Table 4-1, total offsetting collections from the public
    (including those proposed in this budget) are estimated to be $190.4
    billion in 1997. This is only 13 percent as large as the governmental
    receipts discussed in the previous chapter. Table 4-1 divides this total
    between offsetting receipts and offsetting collections credited to
    appropriations accounts and shows major subcategories of each. Table 4-3
    provides more detail for offsetting receipts collected from the public
    and offsetting receipts collected from other accounts within the
    Government.

                                   Table 4-1.  OFFSETTING COLLECTIONS FROM THE PUBLIC
                                                (In millions of dollars)
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                                      Estimate
                                          Type                                          1995   ---------------------
                                                                                       actual      1996       1997
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Collections deposited in receipt accounts:
      Medicare premiums............................................................    20,241     19,842     20,287
      Military assistance trust fund property sales................................    12,469     13,020     12,230
      Outer Continental Shelf payments, naval petroleum reserve lease and other
       undistributed offsetting receipts...........................................     2,419      4,489      4,098
      Spectrum auction proceeds, undistributed.....................................     7,644      4,350      3,600
      Sale of property and services, interest income and all other collections
       deposited in receipt accounts...............................................    20,343     21,710     20,129
                                                                                    --------------------------------
         Subtotal, collections from the public deposited in receipt accounts.......    63,116     63,411     60,344
    Collections credited to appropriations accounts:
      Postal Service stamp sales and other collections.............................    53,311     55,779     57,724
      Deposit insurance funds......................................................    26,272     16,715      5,483
      Tennessee Valley Authority and Power Administration collections..............     8,956      9,040      9,006
      Commodity Credit Corporation loan repayments and other collections...........    10,824      7,257      7,604
      Other loan repayments........................................................     7,028      7,967      7,069
      Loan guaranty and other insurance premiums, interest income and all other
       collections credited to appropriations accounts.............................    45,335     43,681     43,201
                                                                                    --------------------------------
         Subtotal, collections from the public credited to appropriation accounts..   151,726    140,439    130,087
      Offsetting collections from the public.......................................   214,842    203,850    190,431
      Offsetting collections from the public excluding off-budget Postal Service
       collections.................................................................   161,531    148,071    132,707
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

      The budget contains a variety of user fee and other collections
    proposals that would yield $1.4 billion in 1997 and $11.2 billion from
    1997 through 2002. These proposals establish, increase, or extend fees
    in order to recover more of the costs of providing government services.
    Table 4-2 splits the proposals between discretionary and mandatory
    categories for the appropriate scoring under the Budget Enforcement Act
    of 1990 (BEA). It includes offsetting collections and user fees
    classified as governmental receipts.
    [[Page 54]]

                                  Table 4-2.  PROPOSED USER FEES AND OTHER COLLECTIONS
                                                (In millions of dollars)
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                  1997     1998     1999     2000     2001     2002
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                             User fees
     Discretionary:
      Department of Agriculture:
         Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service--
         inspection, licensing, and permit fees--Collections
         and spending authority...............................        8        8        8        8        8        8
         Grain Inspection--Packers and Stockyards
         Administration--standardization and licensing
         activities: Collections and spending authority.......       18       18       18       18       18       18
         Food Safety and Inspection Service--meat, poultry and
         eggs overtime inspection fees: Collections and
         spending authority...................................      109      109      109      109      109      109
      Department of Energy:
        Decontamination and decommissioning fee extended to
         foreign purchasers of U.S. enrichment services--
         Collections..........................................       46       46       46       46       46       46
      Department of Health and Human Services--Food and Drug
       Administration:
         Import user fee to cover inspection/regulatory
         compliance program--Collections and spending
         authority............................................       15       15       15       15       15       15
         Medical device review and approval--Collections and
         spending authority...................................       24       24       24       24       24       24
      Department of Transportation:
        Aviation-related user fees--Collections and spending
         authority............................................      150      150      150      150      150      150
        Surface Transportation Board--Collections and spending
         authority............................................       15       15       15       15       15       15
      Army Corps of Engineers: Wetlands dredging permit
       application fees--Collections..........................        7        7        7        7        7        7
      Environmental Protection Agency: Registration fee for
       pesticide manufacturers--Collections...................       15  .......  .......  .......  .......  .......
      Securities and Exchange Commission: Tier 3 fees credited
       to appropriation--Collections and spending authority...       49       49       49       49       49       49
                                                               -----------------------------------------------------
       Subtotal, discretionary user fees:
         Collections..........................................      456      441      441      441      441      441
         Spending authority...................................      388      388      388      388      388      388
        Net savings...........................................       68       53       53       53       53       53
    Mandatory:
      Department of Agriculture: Recover costs for oversight
       of marketing agreements and orders--Collections and
       spending authority.....................................       10       11       11       11       11       11
      Department of Commerce:
        Fisheries management program fees--Collections and
         spending authority...................................       10       10       10       10       10       10
        Patent and Trademark Office surcharges--Collections...  .......  .......      119      119      119      119
      Department of Education:
        Federal Family Education Loan Program fees:
          Secondary market offset fee--Collections and
           spending authority.................................       35       35       32       33       34       36
          Lender and holder subsidy rebate--Collections and
           spending authority.................................       27       24       22       22       23       25
          Increase lender origination fee--Collections and
           spending authority.................................       45       52       42       40       49       53
      Department of the Interior:
        Expand authority for Park Service, BLM and Forest
         Service fees:
           Collections........................................       12       17       27       33       43       47
           Spending authority.................................  .......       11       16       25       31       40
        Hetch Hetchy Dam rental payments--Collections.........        1        1        1        1        1        1
        Hardrock mining claim and location fee extension--
         Collections..........................................        1        2       34       36       37       38
      Department of Transportation:
        Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund excise tax--Collections      294      294      296      298      299      300
        Railroad safety inspection fees--Collections..........       47       49       51       53       55       57
        Vessel tonnage fees--Collections and spending
         authority............................................  .......  .......  .......       62       62       62
      Department of the Treasury: Internal Revenue Service
       letter ruling fees extension--Collections..............  .......  .......  .......  .......       31       31
      Department of Veterans Affairs: Nonservice-connected
       medical copayments and per diems extension--Collections  .......  .......       39       41       42       43
       Environmental Protection Agency: Pesticide
       reregistration fee--Collections and spending authority.        5       19       19       14  .......  .......
      Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation/Federal Reserve:
       Examination fees for FDIC-insured banks and bank
       holding companies:
          Bank Insurance Fund--Collections and spending
           authority..........................................       75       79       82       86       89       93
          Federal Reserve--Collections\1\.....................       92       96      100      104      109      114
      Federal Emergency Management Agency: Fee to cover 100%
       of radiological emergency preparedness program--
       Collections............................................       12       12       12       12       12       12
       Nuclear Regulatory Commission: Nuclear facility fees--
       Collections and spending authority.....................  .......  .......      310      310      310      310
      Securities and Exchange Commission:
         Tier 1 fees--increases in existing fees--
         Collections\1\.......................................       47       48       49       50       52       53
         Tier 2 fees--new permanent fees deposited in special
         fund--Collections and spending authority\1\..........      260      270      281      292      304      316
                                                               -----------------------------------------------------
       Subtotal, mandatory user fees:
         Collections..........................................      973    1,019    1,537    1,627    1,692    1,731
         Spending authority...................................      467      511      515      595      613      646
         Net savings..........................................      506      508    1,022    1,032    1,079    1,085
                                                               =====================================================
     Total, user fees:
       Collections............................................    1,429    1,460    1,978    2,068    2,133    2,172
       Spending authority.....................................      855      899      903      983    1,001    1,034
       Net savings............................................      574      561    1,075    1,085    1,132    1,138
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\Governmental receipts.
    [[Page 55]]
      Discretionary: The following proposed fees are classified as
    discretionary because action is required by the Appropriations
    Committees. In most cases, the proposed levels are tied to the
    appropriations requests for the specific activity.
                            Department of Agriculture
      Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) fees.--The budget
    proposes to establish three fees for certain APHIS activities: