Burt introduces bill to loosen current‑use eligibility and lower land‑use change tax

Representative Greg Burt introduced H.273 to amend current-use eligibility and the land‑use change tax. Burt said the bill lowers the income test for agricultural enrollment to 25% of a farmer’s annual gross income (from a 50% threshold), adds language to include equine operations that earn at least 25% of a farmer’s income, and reduces the land‑use change tax from 10% to 6% of full fair‑market value when a parcel leaves current use.

Burt said the change is intended to reflect the contemporary farm economy, where many household incomes include significant off‑farm work and smaller-scale vegetable and specialty producers may not meet a 50% income test. He also said a lower land‑use change tax would reduce the cost to new farmers or homesteaders who need to develop a small portion of a parcel for housing or farm facilities, and could incentivize transactions that increase housing availability in rural areas.

Committee members asked about acreage minimums, smaller-scale vegetable farms and processing facilities, and whether forestry enrollments would be affected. Burt and questioners noted existing statutory provisions (for example, provisions that allow enrollment at smaller acreage where on‑farm processing or sales meet monetary thresholds) and said the committee could seek JFO revenue estimates before advancing the bill.

Ending: Burt asked staff to help clarify acreage and income‑threshold interactions for the committee; the bill was introduced and will be further considered by the committee with additional data requests, including potential JFO analyses.