The Montana Farm Bureau Federation (MFBF) is urging farmers and ranchers to ask members of the Senate Taxation Committee to remove agriculture land, also known as Class 3 property, from Senate Bill 4. SB 4 puts tax classes 3, 4 and 10 into a one-year reappraisal cycle instead of the current six year cycle.
“It’s important to have a six-year reappraisal cycle with gradual phased-in increases because farmers and ranchers need to plan ahead for increases in their property taxes,” says MFBF Lobbyist Nicole Rolf. “If the other classes want the one-year reappraisal, that is fine, but we don’t want it for agriculture.”
Rolf points out that the current six-year cycle is not even completed yet. “We’ve been working hard to get agriculture land removed from this bill so we can stay at a six year reappraisal cycle,” Rolf said. “We urge farmers and ranchers to contact members of the Senate Taxation Committee and tell them to remove Class 3 agriculture land from SB4.”
In February 2010, The Montana Farm Bureau Federation (MFBF) and the Montana Taxpayers Association (Montax) filed a class action lawsuit against the Montana Department of Revenue. Farm Bureau believes the Montana Department of Revenue failed to correctly calculate phase-in amounts for agricultural properties statewide. The phase-in was supposed to be done over a six-year period but instead, almost the full amount was taxed in the first year. The lawsuit is still pending.
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