tailieunhanh - Purdue Agricultural Economics Report

“The study of economics does not seem to require any specialized gifts of an unusually high order. Is it not, intellectually regarded, a very easy subject compared with the higher branches of philosophy or pure science? Yet good, or even competent, economists are the rarest of birds. An easy subject, at which few excel! The paradox finds its explanation, perhaps, in that the master-economist must possess a rare combination of gifts. He must reach a high standard in several different directions and must combine talents not often found together. He must be mathematician, historian, statesman, philosopher—in some degree. He. | Purdue UNIVERSITY Purdue Agricultural Economics Report April 2012 Why Farm Land Assessments Larry DeBoer Professor Introduction Property taxes on farm land have been rising and will continue to rise in the future. This is because the base rate of farm land which is the statewide starting point for farm land assessed values has been rising and will keep rising. But now for the first time in decades the soil productivity factors might rise as well. This could make the increase in farm land taxes even larger. The assessed value of farm land is the product of the base rate the soil factor and for some acreage an influence factor. Farm land assessments in Indiana start with a base rate which is a dollar amount per acre. This same starting point is used for all acreage in Indiana. The base rate is set by the state s Department of Local Government Finance DLGF the agency that oversees the operation of the property tax in Indiana. The base rate was 1 290 per acre for taxes payable in 2011. It will be 1 500 for taxes in 2012 and the DLGF recently announced it will be 1 630 for taxes in 2013. The rising base rate is the primary reason why farm land taxes have been increasing. For each acre the base rate is multiplied by a soil productivity factor. The soil factor measures the productivity of the soil for growing corn based on corn yields by soil type. For several Will Continue to Rise decades the soil factors have varied from to . That is for 2012 taxes the base rate times the soil factor could vary from 750 x 1 500 to 1 920 x 1 500 . For taxes in 2013 however the DLGF has announced new updated soil factors. The range for the new factors is to . In 2013 then the range of the base rate times the soil factor would be 815 x 1 630 to 2 706 x 1 630 . The change in the soil factors would have caused an additional increase in farm land assessments for 2013 taxes. The Indiana General Assembly has required the DLGF to postpone the use to the new soil