Rural property taxes to rise? Bring on the sprawl !!

Surely there is another story behind this story from Tuesday's Journal Star. I would be looking for what developer wants to buy what farmland and where. Property taxes hurt farmers. For many farmers, earnings are slim and property taxes don't help. Property taxes have done a great deal of harm to farms surrounding growing communities, forcing farmers out of business and then selling to developers. The developer buys the 'undeveloped' land at a favorable rate and then builds big expensive houses. I don't know of any farmer who wants to be out of the business. Sometimes tho, you are forced out. Property taxes, ironically, can be a tool to do just that. Want to develop a new stretch of land? Get it reassessed, upward !!

Back in October, in an article entitled, Chasing Ground, the New York Times, took a look at sprawl. They paid special attention to a major national developer, Toll Brothers. Buried amongst all the good info, was this nugget from the owners themselves. They felt that property taxes were a principle driver in sprawl !!!!! It worked in their favor. Enabling them to buy land that would not otherwise be available. It drove communities to push developments to drive tax dollars for schools and other 'must have' projects. It all worked to drive sprawl and business to companies like Toll Brothers.

If you want to fight sprawl, something needs to be done with property taxes. Oddly, I could stand with conservatives and say, remove them. There has to be a better way to get revenue that better serves the community.