Time to plant your garden
Written for the High Plains Journal.
It has now been eight years since I started “working” on property tax relief in my home state of Nebraska. It is reported that the cost of property tax per cow is currently at $120/calf born. That, I might remind you, is due and payable every single year just like a feed bill. It took me several years to figure out, after spending countless hours working in the state Capital in Lincoln, that the property tax problem is a county issue not a state issue. Yet somehow everyone thinks they can fix the problem with state initiatives and that is simply not true.
While governments have established some tax credits and refunds in a few states, meaningful “reform” is only going to be made by stopping two things: First, the runaway appraisals within the counties and second, out of control spending by local school boards that must be forced to be frugal and focus on what is important for education. Incidentally, that does not include a new high-tech video scoreboard to keep up with the neighboring school.
With all of that said, I see something very interesting happening and today I can only write about my observations instead of the source of what is happening. Without a tremendous amount of digging, I personally know of 12 states talking about reforming or eliminating property taxes and replacing that revenue with a sales or consumption tax. While my first thought was “finally we could get some real relief because I don’t spend money like other people.” Then I started listening to the folks who are promoting a consumption tax and I decided that it would be easier to move to the moon and start mining gold.
Beyond all of that right now, I want to focus on the timing of this sudden surge in property tax relief conversations. How is it that 12 or maybe more states all decide at the same time to move in the same direction? Perhaps they are prompted to do so. Who would stand to gain and how does this happen systematically?
Let me introduce another thought that I just haven’t been able to come to a conclusion about until today. Despite the fact that Bill Gates is commonly referred to as the largest “farmland” owner in the United States, 50 individuals actually own more land that he does. When questioned about this, the answer always suggests that individuals above him on the list have timber, rangeland and recreational land while Gates has farmable acres. I haven’t been able to understand that because he can own enough land to create a monopoly and he can undoubtedly pay a very high price for land thus forcing “like sales” of appraised land values to go through the roof.
To that end here is the latest USDA report on land values:
The United States farm real estate value, a measurement of the value of all land and buildings on farms, averaged $4,080 per acre for 2023, up $280 per acre (7.4%) from 2022. The United States cropland value averaged $5,460 per acre, an increase of $410 per acre (8.1%) from the previous year. The United States pasture value averaged $1,760 per acre, an increase of $110 per acre (6.7%) from 2022.
Let me say this part out loud: That increase is for ONE year. I realize some states have a formula that generates property tax from the output instead of the assessed value, but these high prices still make an impact. How many people do we know, including the members of this house, who are trying to figure out how to make mortgage, insurance and tax payments and still be in business in the future? Far too many.
So here comes the answer: our federal government has programs that will pay you not to farm. As you read this, the state of California is considering AB 2528 which would remove 500,000 acres from food production and gives us some more unreliable “solar energy.”
A quick look at the history of the world tells us that 1913 was a huge year for Russian in food production and the years to following were anything but successful. This from World Grain:
“There was suddenly complete state control of the economy,” Liefert told World Grain. “This led to mayhem in agriculture. About half of all livestock in the country was destroyed because the peasants decided they weren’t just going to hand it over to the government. It led to a horrible famine that centered on Ukraine, which was largely a man-made policy event. It did not have tohappen. It’s a subject of historical debate that anywhere from 4 million to 10 million people died in that famine.
Please tell me we are not reliving that bit of history today, not only in the United States but in most of the western worlds of government that happen to subscribe to the thought process of the United Nations. That’s enough for one day. I’ve got to go plant my garden and I suggest you do the same.