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has a substantial agricultural industry, residential uses generate 77% of the County’s tax revenue. Farmland (not including residences) generates 10%, and all other industrial and commercial uses combined generate 13% of the revenue. However, the residential sector requires 95% of Loudoun’s expenditures, for schools, water, sewer, police, fire, administration, etc. Indistrial/commercial uses require 4% of the county’s budget, and farm uses require only 1% of the budget.
If you look at it another way, residential uses cost Loudoun 119% of what they bring in, industrial/commercial uses require only 27% of the revenue they provide, and farming requires for support only 10% of the taxes it pays. And this is with general “land use” taxation. Studies of other counties show similar patterns.
By any measure, the farming industry more than pays its way; in fact it directly contributes to the support of other land uses. Farming does not require industrial development bonds; it provides stable employment, with no “boom or bust” syndromes, or largescale layoffs; and it creates a demand for support businesses which provide other employment.
Why A Tax Break for
Ag and Forest Land?
You may ask, “Though farmland is, even with ‘land use’ taxation, a direct tax benefit to the county, why shouldn’t its owners be asked to pay even more by ending use value assessment and taxation?”
The answer is that the Rappahannock “farmscape” not only provides stable employment and a direct tax benefit to the county; it is also the chief reason why this county enjoys the best of both worlds: high property values and the second lowest tax rate in the entire state.
It is clear why the tax rate is low. This is a rural county, whose population does not require, or even want, urban-type public services, and its predominant land use is agricultural with low support needs.
Do any readers of the News have any doubts why property values are high? It is the same reason taxes are low. The “Comeheres”, of which I am one, are willing to pay good prices to live in this rural, scenic, wonderful place. And not just on the farms. It is not uncommon to see a house on a one acre lot in Rappahannock villages sell for nearly a hundred thousand dollars, close to the value of a house in Loudoun, Fauquier, or even parts of Fairfax County. Viririn
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