Many pertain to the lands of a particular agency (e.g., the National Forest System [NFS] or the National Wildlife Refuge System [NWRS]). The most wide-ranging payment program is called Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT). Eligible lands consist of those in the National Park System (NPS), NFS, or Bureau of Land Management (BLM); certain lands in the NWRS if they are withdrawn from the public domain; lands dedicated to the use of federal water resources development projects; dredge disposal areas under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; lands located in the vicinity of Purgatory River Canyon and Piñon Canyon, Colorado, that were acquired after December 31, 1981, to expand the Fort Carson military reservation; lands on which are located semi-active or inactive Army installations used for mobilization and for reserve component training; and certain lands acquired by DOI or the Department of Agriculture under the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act ( P.L. The resulting law authorizes federal PILT payments to local governments. The authorized payment level continued to be subject to annual appropriations. Starting with the FY2008 payment, however, Congress enacted a series of changes to PILT payment funding, including approval of mandatory spending for the payments (see Table 1 ). 112-141 , §100111) extended mandatory spending for PILT to FY2013, without making any other changes to the law. PILT Legislation: FY2014

For the FY2014 appropriations cycle, Congress faced two basic choices for FY2104 funding:
continue the program through an appropriations act, which is constrained by procedural and statutory limits on discretionary spending; or provide funding through some measure other than an appropriations act, which would be treated as mandatory spending. With this choice, funding would be subject to certain budget rules that generally require such spending to be offset. That amount bought the FY2015 total to $439.5 million, or 97.3% of the full formula amount. Lands in Utah acquired by the United States if the lands were eligible for a payment in lieu of taxes program from the state of Utah
Only the nine categories of lands (plus the three exceptions) on this list are eligible for PILT payments; other federal lands—such as military bases, post offices, federal office buildings, and the like—are not eligible for payments under this statute. In addition, there is a pass-through option for the PILT payment itself. The PILT statute requires that "the Secretary of the Interior shall adjust each dollar amount specified in subsections (b) and (c) to reflect changes in the Consumer Price Index published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the Department of Labor, for the 12 months ending the preceding June 30." Putting It All Together: Calculating a County's Payment

With answers to these questions, the authorized payment level for a county can be calculated. If appropriations are insufficient for full funding, each county receives a pro rata share of the appropriation. Thus, counties received 99.7% of the full formula amount. (This example assumes the PILT payment is calculated under the standard rate.) National Totals

Because of the need for annual data, a precise dollar figure cannot be given in advance for each year's PILT authorization level. For a relatively small fraction of the federal or even departmental budget, PILT garners considerable attention, especially from local governments: (1) 2,227 counties had lands eligible for PILT payments in FY2016; (2) the average payment per county (many of which are sparsely populated) was $202,784; (3) although some counties with eligible lands received no payment (because they have very few federal lands and PILT makes no payments of less than $100), many received over $1 million and 25 counties received over $3 million. Inclusion of Indian Lands

The inclusion of other lands (e.g., military lands generally or those of specific agencies such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration) under the PILT program has been mentioned from time to time, and some counties with many acres of nontaxable Indian lands within their boundaries have long supported adding Indian lands to the list of lands eligible for PILT. If PILT payments are discretionary and annual appropriations are less than the authorized level, each county would receive a pro rata share of the authorized full payment level. Congress may consider making all refuge lands eligible for PILT and/or providing mandatory spending for NWRF, as it has for PILT. However, in the same year, the PILT program was very much smaller: the appropriated $400.2 million in PILT payments was less than 0.1% of property tax revenue nationally.
Under federal law, local governments (usually counties) are compensated through various programs for reductions to their property tax bases due to the presence of most federally owned land. Federal lands cannot be taxed but may create a demand for services such as fire protection, police cooperation, or longer roads to skirt the federal property. Some compensation programs are run by a specific agency and apply only to that agency's land. This report addresses only the most widely applicable program, which is called Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT; 31 U.S.C. §§6901-6907) and is administered by the Department of the Interior (DOI); in FY2016, there were 2,227 counties with lands eligible for PILT payments. Eligible lands consist of those in the National Park System (NPS), National Forest System (NFS), or Bureau of Land Management (BLM); certain lands in the National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS); and several other specified federal lands.
Congress has repeatedly debated the level of PILT funding. The authorized level of PILT payments is calculated using a complex formula. No precise dollar figure can be given in advance for each year's PILT authorized level. Five factors affect the calculation of a payment to a given county: (1) the number of acres eligible for PILT payments, (2) the county's population, (3) payments in prior years from other specified federal land payment programs, (4) state laws directing payments to a particular government purpose, and (5) the Consumer Price Index as calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. If the appropriation for PILT funding is less than the full authorized amount, each county receives a prorated payment.
Before 2008, PILT was funded through the annual appropriations process. From FY2008 to FY2014, however, Congress approved mandatory spending for PILT at the full formula amount. The FY2015 PILT payment was funded through both discretionary and mandatory appropriations, and the FY2016 PILT payment and FY2017 PILT payment were each funded entirely through discretionary appropriations. In all three of those years, the appropriation for the PILT payment was less than the authorized full funding level, so each county received a prorated payment in those years. Most recently in FY2017, each county received a prorated amount (99.7%) of the full authorized amount.
The mechanism for PILT funding thus presents two fundamental options for Congress to consider: provide funding through the annual discretionary appropriations process or through mandatory spending for the full formula amount, whether indefinitely or for a specified period. Discretionary appropriations are constrained by procedural and statutory spending limits and are subject to annual fluctuations that may or may not result in PILT being fully funded. Among other potential impacts, annual appropriations could introduce uncertainty and unpredictability for the counties receiving PILT payments. Approval of mandatory spending for PILT at the full formula amount could ensure a consistent and predictable payment for those counties, at least through the duration of the authorization. However, the legislation still would be subject to certain budget rules that generally require such spending be offset.
Since the creation of PILT in 1976, various other changes in the law have been proposed. One proposal has been to include additional lands under the PILT program, particularly Indian lands. Other lands also have been mentioned for inclusion, such as those of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security. Some counties would like to revisit the compensation formula to emphasize a payment rate more similar to property tax rates. Finally, some have argued that all lands in the NWRS should be eligible for PILT, rather than limiting PILT payments to lands reserved from the public domain while excluding acquired lands from PILT payments.