Simulated Effects of Use Value Assessment on Property Tax Rates

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Because of the awareness of the importance of non-urban land uses, many States have turned to use value assessment (as opposed to assessment at market value) as one method of maintaining open space. For example, see “Taxation of Farmland in the Rural-Urban Fringe” by Thomas F. Hady and Thomas F. Stinson, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, A. E. Report No. 119, 1967. in response to such actions, many researchers have addressed themselves to the effectiveness of use value assessment in maintaining open space. The effectiveness of use value assessment in keeping land open is not in question in this discussion. Suffice to say that the effectiveness of use value assessment in maintaining open space is a highly debatable issue on both economic and political grounds.