Olson Sees Debate on Productivity Formula for Property Tax

...why not go whole hog and switch to an income tax?

MDL (print edition only -- Jon, you're getting a little stingy with putting the good articles online!) brings us District 8 Representative Russ Olson's preview of the legislative session. Olson mentions competing property tax reforms that may see some floor time.

The one that catches my attention is the proposed productivity formula for property tax:

A productivity formula would assess ag land value by determining the value of cropland through eight years of crop production and rangeland through rent rates and livestock sustainability [Chuck Clement, "Olson Sees Taxes, Education at Forefront of 2008 Session," Madison Daily Leader, 2007.01.03, pp. 1, 3].

Crop production? Livestock sustainability? Correct me if I'm wrong, but if we're calculating value by what the land produces, then we're looking at what price those crops and livestock fetch at the market. In other words, we're looking at assessing property taxes based on how much farmers make, also known as an income tax.

Yahoo! Call that spade a spade and start digging! I dig it already! If you have a hard year, drought hits, prices drop, whatever, the state doesn't hit you so hard for taxes. Have a great year, cash in on the ethanol boom, and the state asks you to kick in a bigger share. Tax farmers and ranchers based on solid income numbers instead of the assessor's wild guess as to how much some big corporate outfit or out-of-state land developer might pay for that land -- heck of an idea!

Rep. Olson should propose an amendment to expand the productivity formula to all property -- ag, residential, and commercial. Tax me based on how much money I get out of my land (between researching, blogging, painting, and my wife's gardening, you might actually see some GDP out of us in 2008!). Tax Prostrollo's Auto Mall based on how much income it generates, not the meaningless guess of the value of the fill dirt and asphalt it sits on.

Wow -- maybe our tax system is about to move out of the 18th century.