Beginning in the 1980’s, the State took control over the collection and distribution of the various energy taxes, all previously collected by municipalities, and as a result municipalities began receiving less than 100% of these taxes collected. Rebranding these local municipal revenues as “State Aid”, the State has circumvented the original intent of the 1997 Energy Tax Receipts Property Tax Relief Act law, which was to provide property tax relief, and is instead using municipal revenues to balance the State budget.