studies on the “net public costs” of various land

studies on the “net public costs” of various land uses in each of the nine counties which PEC served, and in certain other high growth areas, such as Prince William County and Stafford County. I am sure that Mr. Kossler’s “article” (which I submit belonged on the editorial page) will be responded to by others who have more recent and precise numbers that show the value to the county of the land use taxation program. I intend to use approximate numbers, but supportable numbers, because I have not been active in this field for a number of years.

Here it is in a nutshell, Mr. Kossler: Cows don’t ride school buses.

It is true that some farmland, and some forest land, is taxed as if it has a much lower value than its actual fair market value, and therefore the owner of that land might pay less tax on 100 acres of farmland than say, a family in a three bedroom house on a five acre lot. And guess what? That is good for all of us, not just for the owner of the land. It is important to remember that a farmhouse is taxed at exactly the same rate, and at the same value, as an identical subdivision home. It is only the land that is being used for agricultural or forestal. purposes (under precise and enforced requirements for certifying the use) that is taxed at “land use” value. An owner of a $300,000.00 house in a subdivision pays exactly the same tax on his or her house as does the owner of a $300,000.00 house on a farm, or as does the “wealthy retiree” owner of a $300,000.00 house.

Mr. Kossler is correct, that the vast majority of the expenditures of the county revenues go to the public school systemWhat he missed is that the farm owner, who may have two children of school age, also pays some tax on his farm, and not, just on his house and the acreage on which his home is located. The wealthy retiree who pays the same tax on his $300,000.00 home as the farmer or the subdivision lot owner with a house of equal value, doesn’t have any children in the school system and he is not increasing the net public costs related to his ownership of property in the county. But the subdivision owner of less than 5 acres of land, with two school-age children, is paying the same tax on his house as the farmer and the retiree, and be is sending two children to the public school Last time I looked (about ten years ago), the cost of one child in the public school, system was about $3500.00 per year. Two children therefore cost the county $7,000.00 per year, and at a tax rate of $.80 per