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Saturday, February 09, 2008
Open Space Tax Freeze in NASD's Hands
Bushkill Supervisors have approved a plan to freeze taxes on certain properties to encourage open space preservation (read the article here).
In order to implement the plan the NASD must also approve the freeze.
The school district should not freeze the tax because what Bushkill Township did was unconstitutional. Under the AAA case decided by the Supreme Court in the late 1930's you cannot benefit one group, farmers with land in Agricultural Preservation, at the expense of another group, those of us who are not farmers with land in Agricultural Preservation. Also, the Constitution, that pesky document, denotes that taxes must be levied equally. In addition to all of this, farmers already come under either Act 319 or 515 which cuts there taxes to almost insignificant amounts at all local levels. The citizens should be outrage by what Bushkill Township has done
i) Establish standards and qualifications for private forest reserves, agriculture reserves, and land actively devoted to agriculture use, and make special provision for the taxation thereof;
Here is the link to the PA Constitution: http://sites.state.pa.us/PA_Constitution.html
Anonymous Two items First it was the local municipality that did this. Next the Pennsylvania Constitution has probably never been challenged on this and thus it remains. I would suspect that it would be found to be unconstitutional if it came before the Supreme Court. Since it costs a million to get it there means that it will probably never be seen in that court or any other. What a shame for all of us. Farmers or anyone else should make their own decisions as to what they are going to do with their land. For government to have any say or offer any incentives for this is harmful to the rest of the community.
3 comments:
The school district should not freeze the tax because what Bushkill Township did was unconstitutional. Under the AAA case decided by the Supreme Court in the late 1930's you cannot benefit one group, farmers with land in Agricultural Preservation, at the expense of another group, those of us who are not farmers with land in Agricultural Preservation. Also, the Constitution, that pesky document, denotes that taxes must be levied equally. In addition to all of this, farmers already come under either Act 319 or 515 which cuts there taxes to almost insignificant amounts at all local levels. The citizens should be outrage by what Bushkill Township has done
Wrong, wrong, wrong...
PENNSYLVANIA CONSTITUTION
ARTICLE VIII - TAXATION AND FINANCE
Section 2. Exemptions and Special Provisions
b) The General Assembly may, by law:
i) Establish standards and qualifications for private forest reserves, agriculture reserves, and land actively devoted to agriculture use, and make special provision for the taxation thereof;
Here is the link to the PA Constitution: http://sites.state.pa.us/PA_Constitution.html
Anonymous
Two items
First it was the local municipality that did this. Next the Pennsylvania Constitution has probably never been challenged on this and thus it remains. I would suspect that it would be found to be unconstitutional if it came before the Supreme Court. Since it costs a million to get it there means that it will probably never be seen in that court or any other. What a shame for all of us. Farmers or anyone else should make their own decisions as to what they are going to do with their land. For government to have any say or offer any incentives for this is harmful to the rest of the community.
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