On June 23, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced that more than 1,900 state and local governments will receive a combined $733 million through the Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program for 2026.
The Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program provides vital funding for rural counties in California and throughout the county. These annual payments are provided to jurisdictions containing tax-exempt federal land to offset the loss of property tax revenue those lands would otherwise generate. Payments cover lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, among others. Amounts are calculated based on the acreage of federal land within each jurisdiction and its population; local governments may use the funds for services such as fire protection, law enforcement, education, and road construction.
California’s rural counties, which contain extensive federal land holdings, are set to receive nearly $56 million of the nearly $80 million dollars being distributed in California. See the list of PILT funding by State HERE. To view the funding for California counties, see HERE. More information about the Payment in Lieu of Taxes program is available on the U.S. Department of the Interior website.
For more information, or to learn about RCRC’s advocacy for Payments in Lieu of Taxes, contact RCRC Senior Policy Advocate, Staci Heaton.