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CARA WINNERS
AND LOSERS EXPLANATION SHEET
Prepared by American
Land Rights Association 3/25/2000 www.landrights.org (360) 687-3087
The Conservation and Reinvestment Act, HR 701 and S 25 (CARA) will take Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) oil & gas revenues from the federal treasury and divert them to an off-budget trust fund. This huge trust fund would be automatically available to the administration for spending on CARA projects without the checks and balances of annual Congressional appropriations. These OCS funds are currently used for general fund purposes such as shoring up Social Security and Medicare and paying down the national debt. If the OCS funds are diverted into the permanent off budget trust funds established by CARA then revenues to the general fund will have to come from somewhere else — either by increasing taxes, reducing services or increasing the national debt burden on future generations. Each dollar of OCS revenue diverted by CARA has a resulting cost to each State’s citizens in the form of higher taxes or services lost. The loss of general fund dollars needs to be considered as an offset to any claimed CARA benefit.
What is the gain and loss for citizens in each state? Here are examples of how CARA pork distributions are offset by costs. The first is for the country as a whole. It is a zero sum proposition with losses canceling out CARA cash distributions. Louisiana is a state that draws much more CARA cash than it loses in services and increased taxes on its citizens. Pennsylvania is a state with a meager CARA cash largesse compared to much larger losses in services and increased taxes suffered by its citizens. Texas is nearly a wash: a state that loses about what it gains out of CARA.
| For data on other states see: www.landrights.org/OCS/CARA_Table.htm | USA |
LOUISIANA |
TEXAS |
PENNSYLVANIA |
|
| POPULATION Number | P |
270,298,524 |
4,368,967 |
19,759,614 |
12,001,451 |
as % of US 50 States+DC |
100.0% |
1.6% |
7.3% |
4.4% |
|
CARA FUNDS RECEIVED TOTAL $$ |
$2,856,385,882 |
$311,660,117 |
$236,209,526 |
$49,971,039 |
|
as % of US 50 States+DC |
100.0% |
10.9% |
8.3% |
1.7% |
|
PER CAPITA |
A |
$10.57 |
$71.33 |
$11.95 |
$4.16 |
PER CAPITA LOSS OF OCS REVENUES TAXES GO UP TO REPLACE! |
B |
$10.57 |
$10.57 |
$10.57 |
$10.57 |
PER CAPITA GAIN/(LOSS) |
A-B=C |
$0.00 |
$60.77 |
$1.39 |
($6.40) |
| NET GAIN (LOSS) FOR ENTIRE STATE | C*P |
$0 |
$265,490,958 |
$27,399,350 |
($76,854,571) |
Based on House
Resources Committee 11/16/99 (still current 4/11/00)
http://www.house.gov/resources/106cong/energy/cara/991116fundingestimatesbytitle.htm
IMPORTANT NOTE: This analysis does NOT take into consideration the destruction of communities and local economies, loss of rural custom and culture, and the loss of property tax and other revenue when private lands are transferred to governmental agencies or placed in conservation easements held by government or third party organizations. This impacts the level of school funding, road maintenance and other governmental services provided by counties and cities.
Also: CARA requires that states and localities provide separate matching funds for many CARA pork distributions. These funds are above and beyond the federal cash flows outlined above! To come up with this additional local matching money, states are going to have to 1) raise taxes levied on all families or 2) cancel and reduce other current services.
BACKUP DATA MORE INFORMATION? www.landrights.org
Be informed! Don't allow yourself to be snowed by CARA.
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