Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 1 · column 8 of 8 · from the scan, no model involved
club, forest preserve, bird sanctuary or similar use. Flood plains preserved for passage or containment of flood waters and land under scenic or historic easement also qualify.
Not For Speculators
According' to supervisor chairman E. P. Luke, the Virginia General Assembly passed enabling legislation for land use taxation in 1973 to provide a tool to protect farming and agriculture in the state, “not to provide a loophole for land speculators...It’s for bona fide farmers.”
With land use. “will the taxes be less than what they’re paying now on farms?” asked Douglas Fairfax.
“Yes and no,” replied Luke. “It’s true this type of ordinance shifts the tax burden from land to houses but I’ve had people tell me that they wouldn’t be better off...In simple terms, it’s a transfer tax. The tax is transferred from the land to houses," Luke said.
With land use. the farmer will still carry a fair market value assessment on his house and lot. To offset the amount of revenue lost in deferred land use taxes, the county’s tax rate will logically have to increase. It would depend on the number of acres a farmer owns plus the value of his house and lot as to whether his total tax bill will be less under land use,' according to Luke.
Asked for the range of assessments on property qualifying for land use, Luke said values will probably run from $600 an acre for the best agricultural land to $25 an acre for flood plain. Adoption of land use “will destroy our tax base." he predicted. “The lack must be picked up someplace...on houses in this county." Carson Johnson asked the
(Continued on Page 2)
87.4%