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No farmland tax hike for Missouri farmers

5% tax increase on farmland turned down by Missouri legislature.

Mindy Ward, Editor, Missouri Ruralist

January 28, 2016

1 Min Read

Missouri farmland owners can breathe a sigh of relief as legislators voted down the State Tax Commission's proposed 5% land tax hike.

"Farmers are already facing a bleak outlook for 2016," said Missouri Corn Growers Association President Morris Heitman of Mound City in a news release. "Net farm incomes are forecast to decrease as much as 38% with no signs of rebounding in the immediate future. We appreciate our elected officials' quick action to prevent further distress."

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Every two years the State Tax Commission proposes recommended land tax increases. Having just raised tax rates on farm ground in 2014, the Commission proposed in December 2015 another increase of 5% on land grades 1-4, grades primarily representing row crop and good pasture ground. The legislature has the power to prevent the recommendation from becoming law by passing a resolution to disapprove the Tax Commission's recommendation.

Missouri's General Assembly had 60 days to disapprove the proposal through legislative action. Legislators in both the House and Senate filed bills in opposition to the proposed increase.

Calling the timing of the proposal the "most inopportune," Heitman said he was grateful to the sponsors and key leaders in the legislature. He thanked President Pro Tem Ron Richard, Sens. Mike Kehoe and Brian Munzlinger, Speaker Todd Richardson and Rep. Jay Houghton, "who made the resolution and Missouri corn growers a priority this session."

About the Author

Mindy Ward

Editor, Missouri Ruralist

Mindy resides on a small farm just outside of Holstein, Mo, about 80 miles southwest of St. Louis.

After graduating from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a bachelor’s degree in agricultural journalism, she worked briefly at a public relations firm in Kansas City. Her husband’s career led the couple north to Minnesota.

There, she reported on large-scale production of corn, soybeans, sugar beets, and dairy, as well as, biofuels for The Land. After 10 years, the couple returned to Missouri and she began covering agriculture in the Show-Me State.

“In all my 15 years of writing about agriculture, I have found some of the most progressive thinkers are farmers,” she says. “They are constantly searching for ways to do more with less, improve their land and leave their legacy to the next generation.”

Mindy and her husband, Stacy, together with their daughters, Elisa and Cassidy, operate Showtime Farms in southern Warren County. The family spends a great deal of time caring for and showing Dorset, Oxford and crossbred sheep.

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