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Ohio farmers will see drop in property taxes

Farm landowners in Ohio will soon see relief from property tax increases. Current Agricultural Use Value (CAUV) reform was passed thanks to ag groups like Ohio State Farm Bureau.

Under the CAUV program, farmland is taxed at a rate that reflects its value for ag purposes and not its value as development property.

Joe Cornely with Ohio Farm Bureau says the reform will ensure that the formula takes the ag economy – crop prices, production costs, and yields – into consideration.

“Which ultimately are going to result in 30 percent reduction in taxes,” he says. “Farmers experiencing a 300 percent increase in taxes at a time when farm income were falling basically in half for many, it was a pretty big victory.”

He says Farm Bureau members have been lobbying on the issue for three years.

The reform will also benefit farmers implementing conservation practices. Land enrolled in a federal conservation program will be valued at the lowest minimum value set by the Tax Department. Conservation property was previously valued at its productive value.

The reform legislation signed into law by Gov. John Kasich will go into effect Sept. 30.

Audio: Joe Cornely, Ohio Farm Bureau