Buffer Property Tax Credit

There will be a hearing at the Minnesota Legislature today on a bill being brought forward by Rep. Paul Anderson (R-Starbuck) that has bipartisan support. This bill would give a $50 an acre tax credit for agricultural land that is no longer agricultural land because it is now in compliance with Minnesota's Buffer Law. The bill would take money to pay landowners from the Clean Water Fund. Remember the Buffer law was passed by the Minnesota Legislature and signed by Governor Dayton in 2015.

I attended a number of Buffer Law" meetings as the bill was moving through the Legislature. I heard the comment many times from farmers that the government was taking some of their land out of production but still taxing the land as if it was producing 220 bushel corn or 60 bushel of soybeans. How is that fair? I believe it would have been a lot less controversial if this real estate tax relief would have been included in the original Minnesota Buffer Law!