Issue Brief 19-21
July 19, 2019
Summary 

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) 2019. 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.

Following the record-setting disbursement of PILT payments in FY 2018, the allocations for FY 2019 represent a -7% change from the prior year. This Issue Brief provides background on PILT and details on the FY 2019 payments.