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Show WATER FOR UTAH over 23 million dollars in revenues, and since 1917, the cumulative totals of these revenues amounted to over 141 million dollars. The direct benefits of water and power improvements represent major additions to the wealth of the United States. The tax revenues from Federal Reclamation projects have been estimated to exceed the Federal investment which produced them by about 2.5 times. In 1945 alone, 150 million dollars were collected in taxes from farmers and others directly involved in reclamation operations. The availability of power from Federal Reclamation projects provided a greatly expanded base for taxable wealth. In the Pacific Northwest, for example, at the end of 1946, total tax contributions since 1939- 1940 exceeded the 280 million- dollar investment made in Federal power facilities. Numerous new industrial plants, the establishment of which was directly related to the availability of iow- cost hydroelectric power from these facilities, paid 58 million dollars in income and excess profits taxes during that same period, and utilities which also purchased this power contributed a minimum of 8 million dollars. The investment of private enterprise in new industrial plants directly tied to the federal power system in the Pacific Northwest was estimated at a minimum of 160 million dollars in 1944, and today is even greater. ... Employment... Innumerable jobs have been created through the bringing of water to otherwise arid and nonproductive lands and through the development of hydroelectric power. Communities have been established in areas which prior to reclamation and irrigation were barren and uninhabited. Roads, railroads, telephone and power facilities traverse former desert land. The opportunities created in other parts of the United States, likewise are sizeable. It is estimated that every two persons directly dependent on irrigation support the gainful activities of another employed in manufacturing, mining, forestry and fishing elsewhere in the Nation. . . . Reclamation is Self- Liquidating . . . Sizeable as may be the Federal investment in reclamation projects and enormous as may be their consequent production of employment and wealth, the amounts of their repayment and self- liquidation are proportionately as great. For example, farmers on irrigated lands, paying scheduled annual installments, have returned over 78 million dollars on the construction costs of projects in the United States, or about 97% of the amount due on June 30, 1947. In addition, during the past 40 years, over 45 million dollars have been collected for the cost of operation and maintenance of these projects. These investments, therefore, are of a healthy and stable financial nature. The projected plan of development in Utah will reflect the over- all soundness of federal reclamation investment. The availability of sorely needed water and power supplies will improve the productive capabilities of the entire State - its employment, taxable wealth and purchasing power. The improvement of water supplies for many agricultural acres now insufficiently irrigated, the development of new and additional acres of arable land, the generation and transmission of power to industrial consuming centers - all these will provide opportunities for considerable economic growth in Utah. Benefits to Utah Production ... Investment... Payrolls ... Although it is difficult to determine with precision the nature and level of all these benefits, experience in the West and in areas closely adjacent to the proposed developments in Utah, permit some estimates of future benefits. The 607,400 acres of arable land to be brought under cultivation and the 406,800 acres to receive supplemental supplies of water would increase the over- all annual agricultural production in Utah by 60%. They would also provide for an additional 32,000 people on farms and 64,000 in related services. Based on the experience of the Twin Falls - Gooding - Minidoka area in nearby southeastern Idaho, the consequent increase in dollar volume in Utah's wholesale and retail trade, sales and payrolls resulting from farm business might be on the order of 60 to 70 million dollars per year. Similarly, the related investment in private property would be increased probably between 100 and 150 million dollars. |