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  • From: "Andrew French" <alienbuddha@gmail.com>
  • To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [permaculture] Can the tax man call you a farmer if you've never seen a tractor?
  • Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2007 09:24:16 -0600

Is it a real farm? A "hobby" farm? Or a mansion on farmland? The issue of
agricultural tax breaks for metro-area farmers is rising on the legislative
agenda.

*By David Peterson <dapeterson@startribune.com>,* Star Tribune

Last update: December 02, 2007 – 9:59 PM

<http://oas.startribune.com/RealMedia/ads/click_lx.ads/www.startribune.com/local/845293762/sponsor01/StarTribune/default/empty.gif/64316132303539353436386533616530>
The Legislature will be presented next session with the ticklish issue of
how to clamp down on wealthy owners of rural acreage who abuse the tax
system -- without undermining the many who really are trying to farm.

The legislative auditor's office is completing a study aimed in part at
determining whether rural landowners who do little or no farming are taking
advantage of a system designed to help farmers.

"There are people buying 10 or 12 acres and erecting mansions on them,
letting a few of those acres be used by a local farmer and leaving assessors
with the question of whether this can be classed as 'ag,'" said Jody Hauer,
project manager for the study.

Through a complex system of interlocking programs, she added, "the tax value
can be cut in half" -- whether it should be or not.

The cost to other taxpayers is difficult to nail down. Thousands of
small-acreage "microfarms" exist, and estimates of the tax breaks per
property range from a few hundred dollars to thousands.

By law, the legislative auditor's office can't comment on what it's finding
until the report comes out. But a 2006 study by the state Department of
Revenue may hint at some of what's to emerge.

That study hints that the rules around farming tax breaks are outdated and
overly lenient. The thresholds for land holdings and farming income, it
found, are so miniscule that "many small suburban *hobby farms *are
benefiting."

However, many owners of small properties on the fringes of the metro area
resent the term "hobby farm," which implies that it's not a serious pursuit.
They describe the 10-acre minimum often used to distinguish real from
leisurely ag as meaningless in an era when a rising number of farmers'
markets and other outlets are creating real opportunities for
income-producing farming on a smaller scale.

more here: http://www.startribune.com/462/story/1587268.html



  • [permaculture] Can the tax man call you a farmer if you've never seen a tractor?, Andrew French, 12/03/2007

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