Energy Management: Payments in Lieu of Taxes for DOE Property May Need to
Be Reassessed (Letter Report, 07/18/94, GAO/RCED-94-204).

The Atomic Energy Commission and its successor agencies--the Energy
Research and Development Administration and the Energy Department
(DOE)--acquired a large property inventory nationwide. Most of this
property was acquired decades ago for the Manhattan Project and
subsequent nuclear weapons development.  The Commission was authorized
to compensate communities for the loss of tax revenues when such
properties were removed from the local tax rolls.  Such compensation is
termed "payment in lieu of taxes" because federally owned property is
not subject to state and local taxation.  The Commission was also
authorized to make payments in excess of the taxes if a community
experienced "special burdens" as a result of these activities.  In
response to congressional concerns that some communities hosting DOE
facilities are receiving compensation while others are not, this report
(1) identifies which communities have received payments and how the
amounts were determined, (2) assesses whether a 1987 revision of DOE's
payment policy was consistent with the Atomic Energy Act of 1946, and
(3) examines the potential effect of DOE's 1983 changes to the payment
policy.

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------

 REPORTNUM:  RCED-94-204
     TITLE:  Energy Management: Payments in Lieu of Taxes for DOE 
             Property May Need to Be Reassessed
      DATE:  07/18/94
   SUBJECT:  Federal property
             Property taxes
             Real property
             Statutory law
             Intergovernmental relations
             Government liability (legal)
             Atomic energy defense activities
             Eminent domain
             Comparative analysis
             Expropriation

             
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