Interior Announces FY 2020 PILT Payments

The Department of the Interior (DOI) announced $514.7 million in payments to more than 1,900 counties under the Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program for fiscal year (FY) 2020. These payments compensate local governments—usually counties—for property tax revenue that would otherwise be collected on non-taxable land owned by the federal government.

Disbursements declined by less than 1% compared to FY 2019 but represent the second year of decline since FY 2018, which set a record for total PILT payments. This Issue Brief provides background on PILT and details on the FY 2020 payments.

Note: After publishing this brief, DOI revised the allocation for Utah with an increase of $2.3 million for FY 2020. Final allocations can be found here.