Minnesota farmers think part of their property tax bills is unfair, but they probably should not get up their hopes that things will change immediately.
Rep. Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa, and Sen. Lyle Koenen, D-Clara City, offered bills Thursday that would keep farmland from being taxed to pay for school and other local government construction projects. That would shift costs to city residents and businesses, a tough sell in a Legislature with more urban and suburban lawmakers than those who represent rural areas.
"Nowhere is the impact of soaring property taxes more evident than on our farms," Drazkowski said, saying farm taxes have soared 132 percent in the past decade, while business taxes have gone up 24 percent and home taxes jumped 55 percent.
"It is important just for fairness," Koenen said about the bill.
However, veteran politicians and lobbyists said the proposal probably will take more than one legislative session to pass, if it ever does, and that it is unlikely that supporters will be able to eliminate all farmland taxes for construction projects.
President Doug Peterson of Minnesota Farmers' Union, a former long-time legislator, said that a lot of questions must be answered before the proposal can succeed, and that probably will last beyond this session, which must end May 18.
Samuel Walseth of the Minnesota Rural Education Association said that Drazkowski and Koenen may not be able to totally eliminate construction costs from farm property taxes and any solution probably would involve some state money to ease the impact on residential and business property taxes.
Peterson and President Kevin Paap of the Minnesota Farm Bureau backed the proposal.
"We don't want to pit rural vs. urban," Paap said.
The concept is similar to laws that exempt farmland from some other property taxes, leaving farmers to pay taxes on a house, garage and one acre. That was established so farmers would pay about the same as a city dweller.
The bill sponsors said they know it could change.
"It creates a new starting point," Drazkowski said.
The bill would not affect levies in place, only those that voters approve after it passes.
Koenen said one of the problems farmers face is that property tax is based on land value, which has soared in recent years. However, he said, property values do not necessarily indicate how much farmers can afford.
Drazkowski and Koenen said farmland is charged 10 times as much for construction levies as city homes.
Bill supporters said that the situation has led to farmers opposing school construction requests because of the additional tax burden they would face. That opposition is blamed on many rural districts failing to pass new construction levies.
Source: www.grandforksherald.com