IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ctf/journl/v73y2025i2p347-361.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Finances of the Nation: A Brief Look at the Role of Federal Payments in Lieu of Taxes in Municipal Finances

Author

Listed:
  • Jennifer Robson

    (Carleton University, Ottawa)

Abstract

One understudied aspect of intergovernmental fiscal arrangements is the system of payments in lieu of taxes (PILT) made to local tax authorities. In light of ongoing changes to the government of Canada's real property holdings, this article reviews published federal data on PILT transfers made in 2019 to 2023 for nine cities of interest, including both cities in the National Capital Region. The article also uses city-level published data, gathered from municipal budget and fiscal documents, to assess the importance of federal PILT transfers to these municipalities. The analysis shows that the fiscal impact of PILT payments varies substantially across cities, but concludes that the PILT program is a blunt instrument that is not well suited to addressing fiscal pressures at the municipal level.

Suggested Citation

  • Jennifer Robson, 2025. "Finances of the Nation: A Brief Look at the Role of Federal Payments in Lieu of Taxes in Municipal Finances," Canadian Tax Journal, Canadian Tax Foundation, vol. 73(2), pages 347-361.
    • Handle: RePEc:ctf:journl:v:73:y:2025:i:2:p:347-361
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.32721/ctj.2025.73.2.fn
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.ctf.ca/EN/Publications/CTJ_Contents/2025CTJ2.aspx
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/https://doi.org/10.32721/ctj.2025.73.2.fn?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ctf:journl:v:73:y:2025:i:2:p:347-361. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Jim Lyons (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.ctf.ca/EN .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.