§835c–1 Taxation and assessments; applicability of State laws

Summary

The Secretary can make deals to pay yearly amounts to a State or local government for real land the United States owns while the land is held and before the U.S. signs a sale contract. These payments must come from money made by leasing the land. The yearly payment cannot be more than the tax that would be owed if the land were not tax-exempt. Public lands in the project and lands the United States gets under this law will follow Washington State rules for irrigation, reclamation, and conservancy districts and can be assessed or taxed by those districts like similar private land. The United States does not promise to pay those taxes. After the U.S. signs a sale contract, the land can be taxed like private land and taxes can be enforced the same way, but any tax liens are subject to U.S. ownership or prior U.S. liens. If the land goes back to the United States because of a buyer’s default before the title transfers, any tax liens or tax titles from those taxes will be wiped out and the taxing authority must formally release them.