According to a recent Dayton Daily News Article, farmers in Ohio expect bigger tax bills due to:
1) A huge increase in farmland values and
2) A higher tax rate imposed by taxing authorities. Because property values as a whole have decreased, thanks to decreasing residential property values, local taxing authorities must raise rates to make the same amount of money.
With the value of agricultural land at record levels, farmers want to reform how the current agricultural use value, or CAUV is calculated. The CAUV allows land to be taxed by the land’s agricultural value, not the fair market value. The CAUV came into being as a result of a 1973 amendment to the Ohio Constitution that was designed to insulate agricultural land from the spike in the value of non-residential land. See Ohio Constitution, Article II, Section 36. How the rate is calculated is set out by tax commissioner regulations.
An administrator with the Ohio Department of Taxation believes the real relief that farmers want fall outside the calculation of the agricultural use value. Putting farmland into its own tax category would, it is apparently being argued, require amending the Ohio Constitution. Ohio Constitution Article XII, Section 2 requires that, “Land and improvements thereon shall be taxed by uniform rule according to value …”
See Dayton Daily News Article, Farmers Fear Large Tax Bite . (This link is via Bloomberg Law. Law Students and Faculty may register for Bloomberg Law for free)
