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By DAPHNE HUTCHINSON
PEC SUIT WriUr
Who carries the tax burden in Rappahannock County?
Ask the fellow who owns a house and five acres. Odds are, he’ll answer, “I do. There’s no industry in this county to speak of and the farmers are getting a break with land use taxation. That only leaves us home owners. We’re carrying the burden.”
Ask the farmer and the orchardist, and they’ll insist they’re carrying a disproportionate load.
At budget time every year, the argument is replayed. The debate grows louder as more landowners join Agricultural and Forestal Districts and qualify for deferred taxes through the use value assessment program while demands for services-and tax dollars spiral as Rappahannock’s population begins to climb, reversing the downward trend of the past three decades.
The argument over who is paying what continues unnecessarily. A new study conducted by the Warrentonbased Piedmont Environmental Council shows that farmers and owners of forest and open space land are paying their own way AND part of the homeowner’s, despite use value taxation.
It comes as no surprise to Rappahannock’s farmers to learn that they give more in taxes than they get in services from local government.
“I haven’t run the figures through but common sense tells you that farmers are paying more than their share,” said Newbill Miller, cattle producer.
“We all know open space land doesn’t call for spending tax money,” said orchardist H. B. Wood. “Houses-and the people who live in houses -demand the services that require spending tax money.”
“I knew because of the population and the amount of land involved in farming here (34 percent of Rappahannock’s area compared to two percent considered developed) that the percentage of taxes spent on residential land was far higher than what is spent on open land,” said farmer A. Y. Stokes, planning commissioner and former member of the school board.
But while Rappahannock’s farmers say they’ve known all along that they pay their own way and then some, it took PEC’s detective work to turn up the proof.
A study of the fiscal impact of ma
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