Payments in Lieu of Taxes Resource Hub

The fiscal burden counties carry is inseparable from the national economic value that public lands generate. County maintained roads provide access corridors that make public lands productive and visitable. County governments absorb service costs that enable an economic return that benefits the entire country, not just the communities bearing those costs.

The scale of that return is significant. On BLM lands, authorized activities in FY2024 generated $245.4 billion in total economic output and supported 884,000 jobs nationwide. On National Park Service lands, 331.9 million visits in 2024 generated $29 billion in visitor spending in gateway communities, supported 340,100 jobs, and produced $56.3 billion in total economic output. The U.S. Forest Service, managing 193 million acres of national forests and grasslands, contributed an additional $40.3 billion in GDP and supported approximately 373,600 jobs, with visitor spending on national forests alone generating an estimated $13.7 billion annually and sustaining roughly 161,000 jobs. Taken together, these three agencies account for hundreds of billions of dollars in annual economic activity that depends, in every case, on the local government services that counties provide.

These benefits flow to every congressional district in the country, including those without a single acre of federal managed land. The energy produced on public lands powers homes in every state. The minerals extracted supply manufacturers nationwide. The recreation opportunities draw visitors from every corner of the country. The distribution of benefits is national; the distribution of costs is local.

Despite the program’s broad reach, PILT has historically been subject to annual appropriations, making payments vulnerable to federal budget pressures. County budgets are built months before the fiscal year begins, revenue projections must be finalized before service levels, staffing and capital commitments can be set. When PILT appropriations fall short of the full statutory calculation, as they have in previous years, counties must absorb the shortfall through service reductions, deferred infrastructure maintenance or adjustments to other budget lines.

Mandatory spending programs, by contrast, are funded automatically without requiring annual appropriations action. Under a mandatory structure, PILT payments would be determined by the existing acreage-based formula and paid with certainty by giving counties the predictable, stable revenue baseline that responsible local planning requires. The appropriations history below illustrates how payment levels have fluctuated over time, underscoring the fiscal uncertainty that public lands counties face when federal priorities shift.

Not all federally managed land is PILT-eligible. As shown in the graphic below, PILT-eligible land spans nine categories of federal ownership, from national forests and BLM holdings to certain inactive army installations, reflecting the portion of the federal estate that generates no local tax revenue and for which counties may receive compensation.

The payment each county receives is determined by a formula that weighs entitlement acreage against population, with two alternative calculations — A-Side and B-Side — applied and the higher of the two paid out. The formula also accounts for prior-year federal payments, including Secure Rural Schools payments, which are deducted from the A-Side calculation.