Source: United States Senator for Colorado Michael Bennet
Washington, D.C. — Today, Colorado U.S. Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper applauded the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) announcement of $45.5 million in Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) funding for 56 Colorado counties. Each year, DOI collects more than $26.3 billion in revenue from commercial activities on public lands, a portion of which is shared with states and counties. Last year, Bennet and Hickenlooper urged the Senate to fully fund the Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program for fiscal year 2023.
“PILT payments help rural communities across Colorado hire police officers and firefighters, and fund maintenance for roads, bridges, and other essential infrastructure,” said Bennet. “These investments don’t only help Coloradans – they also benefit the millions of Americans that visit our public lands every year. That’s why I’ll keep pushing to give our local governments more sustained and predictable funding through this program.”
“Colorado public lands draw visitors from all over the world, but local counties miss out on tax revenue generated on these lands,” said Hickenlooper. “PILT ensures a portion of this money goes directly back to our communities, supporting essential public services and funding school districts, firefighters, and police.”
PILT payments are made for tax-exempt federal lands administered by the Department’s bureaus, including the Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Park Service, as well as the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.