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Title 31, Money and FinanceRelease 119-102

§6904 Additional Payments

Title 31 › SUBTITLE V — GENERAL ASSISTANCE ADMINISTRATION › CHAPTER 69 — PAYMENT FOR ENTITLEMENT LAND › § 6904

Last updated Aug 21, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Interior Secretary must pay a local government that collects property taxes when the United States buys an interest in land for the National Park System or for National Forest Wilderness Areas, including local units in Alaska outside organized boroughs, if the land was taxed within the five years before the purchase. Payments are made for the five fiscal years after the year the land is bought. Each yearly payment is 1% of the land’s fair market value on the purchase date, but it cannot be more than the property taxes actually levied on the land in the last fiscal year before the purchase. The Secretary will give rules so the receiving local government splits the money fairly among the local units and school districts that lost tax revenue, and those units may spend the funds for any government purpose. The Secretary can make other rules to cover cases where these steps won’t work.

Full Legal Text

Title 31, §6904

Money and Finance, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)In addition to payments the Secretary of the Interior makes under section 6902 of this title, the Secretary shall make a payment for each fiscal year to a unit of general local government collecting and distributing real property taxes (including a unit in Alaska outside the boundaries of an organized borough) in which is located an interest in land that—
(1)the United States Government acquires for—
(A)the National Park System; or
(B)the National Forest Wilderness Areas; and
(2)was subject to local real property taxes within the 5-year period before the interest is acquired.
(b)The Secretary shall make payments only for the 5 fiscal years after the fiscal year in which the interest in land is acquired. Under guidelines the Secretary prescribes, the unit of general local government receiving the payment from the Secretary shall distribute payments proportionally to units and school districts that lost real property taxes because of the acquisition of the interest. A unit receiving a distribution may use a payment for any governmental purpose.
(c)Each yearly payment by the Secretary under this section is equal to one percent of the fair market value of the interest in land on the date the Government acquires the interest. However, a payment may not be more than the amount of real property taxes levied on the property during the last fiscal year before the fiscal year in which the interest is acquired. A decision on fair market value under this section may not include an increase in the value of an interest because the land is rezoned when the rezoning causes the increase after the date of enactment of a law authorizing the acquisition of an interest under subsection (a) of this section.
(d)The Secretary may prescribe regulations under which payments may be made to units of general local government when subsections (a) and (b) of this section will not carry out the purpose of subsections (a) and (b).

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

Revised SectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 6904(a)31:1603(a)(1st, 3d sentences).Oct. 20, 1976, Pub. L. 94–565, § 3(a)–(d), 90 Stat. 2663. 31:1603(e).Oct. 20, 1976, Pub. L. 94–565, 90 Stat. 2662, § 3(e); added Oct. 17, 1978, Pub. L. 95–469, § 3(3), 92 Stat. 1322. 6904(b)31:1603(a)(2d sentence), (b), (d). 6904(c)31:1603(c). 6904(d)31:1603(a)(last sentence). In the section, the words “land or” are omitted as being included in “interest in land”. In subsection (a), before clause (1), the words “the Secretary of the Interior makes” are added for clarity. The words “unit of general local government collecting and distributing real property taxes (including a unit in Alaska outside the boundaries of an organized borough)” are substituted for “county” and 31:1603(a)(3d sentence) and (e) to eliminate unnecessary words. The words “the jurisdiction of” are omitted as surplus. In subclause (A), the words “for the Redwood National Park pursuant to subchapter VII of chapter 1 of title 16” are omitted as executed because the Redwood National Park is now part of the National Park System. In subsection (b), the words “The Secretary shall make payments only for the 5 fiscal years after the fiscal year in which the interest in land is acquired” are substituted for 31:1603(b)(1st sentence) and (d) to eliminate unnecessary words. The words “affected” and “for addition to either such systems” are omitted as surplus. The words “receiving a distribution” are added for clarity. In subsection (c), the words “The amount of . . . made . . . fiscal . . . to any unit of local government and affected school districts” are omitted as surplus. The words “by the Secretary” are added for clarity. The words “made for any fiscal year to a unit of local government under subsection (a) of this section”, “assessed and”, “full”, and “for addition to the National Park System or National Forest Wilderness Areas” are omitted as surplus.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

31 U.S.C. § 6904

Title 31, Money and Finance

Last Updated

Aug 21, 2026

Release point: 119-102