Legislation proposing a change to how farmland property taxes are calculated could reduce farmers’ bills by more than $100 million a year.
Rep. Kendell Culp (R-Rensselaer), the author of HB 1192, said farmland property tax rates have increased 63 percent over the last three years.
“Property owners cannot bear the brunt of increased taxes to meet the needs of their county,” Culp said.
The way farmland is assessed was previously changed less than a decade ago, and Rep. Hal Slager (R-Schererville) said he’s wary of yet another tweak.
“I would rather work on a long-term solution than a band-aid,” Slager said.
But Indiana Farm Bureau Senior Director Katrina Hall said farmers can’t afford to wait.
“This is going to be a really tough year for farmers,” Hall said. “So, when you go back to your districts, that’s probably what you’re going to hear — especially as people right now … they’re doing budgeting for their crop that they’re going to put in, and this is not looking very good.”
While Culp’s bill would help agricultural property owners, it would increase homeowners’ property tax bills by millions of dollars — and significantly reduce local government funding.
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Rep. Ed DeLaney (D-Indianapolis) said that’s an inevitable consequence to any property tax debate.
“You’re going to affect all the schools, sheriff’s departments, everybody else — and/or you’re going to shift the tax to the probably modest and often not well-off population of these counties,” DeLaney said.
Indiana Chamber of Commerce Vice President David Ober said there’s a way to simplify the debate: include the farmland assessment proposal in a more comprehensive property tax reform package.
“That way you can all see the net impact to all property tax classes before you make a decision on a policy,” Ober said.
House Ways and Means Chair Jeff Thompson (R-Lizton) said he would’ve liked to vote on Culp’s bill on its own, but added he’s “99 percent there” on Ober’s idea to hold off and include the measure in a larger property tax package later this session.
