Letter: Bishop's recreation fee plan i..

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Utah Republican Rep. Rob Bishop has introduced HB 5204 to Congress. Rob Bishop is a longtime member of the party of "small government and low taxes." Bishop essentially wants to increase fees (not a tax) on users of public lands:

"To amend the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act to improve recreation opportunities and increase consistency and accountability in the collection and expenditure of recreation fees collected on public lands and forests, and for other purposes."

Those are fancy words to say Americans will pay more for visiting, passing through or otherwise using public lands for recreational purposes. Bishop claims that his proposed tax increase will benefit Americans, but he doesn't really say how. At the same time, Bishop wants to take public lands away from the federal government and give them to state governments, who will in turn increase taxes and restrict recreational access for the public to use those lands we now enjoy.

My question is: Will Bishop increase the fees that welfare ranchers now pay to use and keep people out of public lands?

Bill Revene

West Valley City

Letter: Bishop's recreation fee plan is just a tax