In mid-June the U.S. Department of the Interior announced that more than 1,900 state and local governments that host federal lands will receive a total of $578.8 million in Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) funding for 2023. Because local governments cannot tax federal lands, annual PILT payments help to defray the costs associated with maintaining important community services. “Since PILT payments began in 1977, the Department has distributed nearly $11.4 billion to states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands,” the DOI explained, noting that the department collects more than $26.3 billion in revenue annually from commercial activities on public lands.
“Individual payments may vary from year to year as a result of changes in acreage data, which are updated annually by the federal agency administering the land; prior-year federal revenue-sharing payments reported annually by the governor of each state; and inflationary adjustments using the Consumer Price Index and population data, which are updated using information from the U.S. Census Bureau,” says the DOI. A full list of funding by state and by state and county is available on the Department’s Payments in Lieu of Taxes page.
As one might expect, the dozen top states in total PILT funds shown here are located out west where there is vast federal acreage. The No. 13 state on the list, Arkansas, received around $8.2 million, or nearly $19 million less than No. 12 Washington.
STATE |
FY 2021 PAYMENT |
FY 2022 PAYMENT |
FY 2023 PAYMENT |
Total |
$529,285,854 |
$549,416,590 |
$578,750,177 |
California |
$55,900,858 |
$58,778,191 |
$61,029,530 |
New Mexico |
$42,139,967 |
$43,629,683 |
$46,699,761 |
Colorado |
$43,113,164 |
$44,194,569 |
$45,524,696 |
Arizona |
$40,192,865 |
$41,186,842 |
$43,501,616 |
Montana |
$36,209,980 |
$38,238,756 |
$40,330,577 |
Idaho |
$34,511,297 |
$35,794,315 |
$38,197,782 |
Alaska |
$32,219,322 |
$33,486,098 |
$35,448,677 |
Wyoming |
$31,227,593 |
$31,521,789 |
$34,307,901 |
Nevada |
$28,450,646 |
$29,146,696 |
$31,196,044 |
Oregon |
$24,480,634 |
$25,975,874 |
$27,161,990 |
Washington |
$24,946,423 |
$26,312,351 |
$27,127,978 |
Source: U.S. Dept. of the Interior
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