The 2015 Legislative Session is underway. Katrina Hall, Indiana Farm Bureau’s director of state government relations says the biggest issue facing farmers in 2015 is farmland taxes. “The increase in farmland taxes is simply escalating at a point where they are going to be consuming the profits that farmers will be making,” she says.
Between 2007 and 2013, farmers paid an additional $100 million in property taxes – or a 33 percent increase. “Beyond this year – and even taxes that they will pay in 2015 most farmers will see their assessments have gone up 16.5 percent,” she says. “It may not be a 1 to 1 ration as to how much their bills will go up, but we have to stop the bleeding.”
And with the significant drop in commodity prices and farm incomes, Hall tells Brownfield the issue becomes even more critical.
With issues like farmland taxes, she says it is important for farmers to be in regular communication with their legislators. “They need to understand the issues of the folks that are affected by the things they are passing and working on,” she says. “That’s really is the best way for our members to have the chance to get policies implemented that impact them in the best way.”
And not hinder farmers’ ability to business.
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