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Putting a stop to increasing farmland taxes

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One of the biggest issues facing Hoosier farmers in 2015 is the rise in farmland taxes.  Governor Mike Pence told attendees of the Inaugural Governor’s Conference on Agriculture the administration is committed to finding a solution.

“We are determined in this session of the General Assembly to prevent any rapid increase on property taxes for family farmers,” he says.  “We’re calling on members of the General Assembly to partner with us to find a solution to that issue.”

Which, Pence says, is why he brought it up during last week’s conference among leaders of Indiana’s agriculture industry.

Last week the Senate Agriculture Committee voted 6-0 for SB 205 which will again require property assessors to use 2011 soil productivity factors in their 2015 land value determinations.  For taxes payable in 2015, all Indiana farmland is assessed a base value of $2,050 per acre that is adjusted by soil productivity and influence factors to calculate the assessed value of a parcel of land, which can have multiple soil types.

In 2012, the Department of Local Government Finance released updated soil productivity factors based in part on the higher yields farmers now obtain form their lands.  Had those factors been implemented, farmland assessments would have increased by 25.5 percent or an estimated $57.4 million.  The General Assembly agreed in 2012, 2013, and 2014 to one-year delays in implementation of the updated factors.

This year’s delay proposal next goes to the Senate Tax and Fiscal Policy Committee for further review.

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