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Legislative News and Views - Rep. Mark Anderson (R)

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Bill would provide farmers with fairier property taxes

Friday, February 6, 2015

Dear Neighbor,

 

Greater Minnesota’s rural landowners are getting pummeled by rising property taxes. A bill I co-authored provides them relief by providing more consistency in the rates they pay compared with city dwellers.

 

 

It is called the Minnesota Family Farm Protection Act in the Minnesota House and it would exempt farmland from capital bond levies, creating a more consistent system. State law already recognizes the house, garage, and one acre for school operating levies. The same guideline should apply to farms, exempting the acreage and limiting the liability to a farmer’s house, garage, and one acre of land.

 

 

This is a big deal in parts of the state like our District 9A, where farmers and other country residents are paying up to 10 times as much as city counterparts for construction levies offered by schools, cities and counties. That means a levy costing city property owners hundreds of dollars can translate to thousands of dollars out in the country.

 

 

This bill (H.F. 596) has bipartisan support in both the House and Senate. It also is supported by the Minnesota Farm Bureau, the Minnesota Farmers Union and other organizations. It is the right thing to do and I look forward to advancing this proposal so we can give country residents a fair shake.

 

 

On a similar note, Dairy Day was Wednesday at the Capitol. A number of people from that industry visited the State Office Building in St. Paul to advocate for their cause. We had a very productive meeting in the Agriculture Policy Committee, where testifiers provided us with good information.

 

 

One thing that came up in that committee is how the state’s punitive estate taxes make it difficult to transfer farms to the next generations. I find it interesting how some people seem to detest the ag. industry’s shift toward larger farming operations, yet our state’s tax code disincentivizes family farms.

 

 

It’s another way farmers are getting beaten up on taxes and is another thing we need to fix. While we are at it, let’s take a look at how bureaucracy is stifling growth. We heard from producers of turkeys and chickens/eggs this week who explained how red tape is stifling expansion.

 

A group of local resort owners also came to discuss issues this week and one of their top items pertains to a new law that, as of this July 1, will require anyone trailering a boat or water-related equipment such as docks and lifts in Minnesota to take aquatic invasive species training and display a decal on their trail.

 

This is one of those things where their hearts might be in the right place, but implementation and enforcement looks like a complete nightmare. In fact, someone from Iowa who hauls a boat through our state on their way to Canada would need to comply or potentially face charges.

 

 

Resort owners fear the added costs and further regulations they would incur, along with questions over whether out-of-state customers would be dissuaded because of the new bureaucratic hoops they would have to jump through.

 

 

Of course we do not want invasive species in our waterways, but there are better ways than this cumbersome model. I will keep you posted as proposals to make changes to this program or altogether repeal it emerge.

 

 

Sincerely,

Mark

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