Smaller is Better
News & Observer
7/28/08

As you explained in your July 21 editorial "Woods and wildlife," the new tax classification for wildlife conservation land can reduce the pressure to sell land caused by increasing property taxes. The bill, HB 1889, introduced by Rep. Pricey

Harrison of Greensboro, would help protect some landowners from increased taxes. These tax increases are caused by higher potential value of land that could be developed. An existing law protects land that is actively farmed.

However, the bill was amended in the Senate to apply only to 20-acre or larger properties, rather than the 10-acre minimum the House passed. There is a 10-acre minimum in existing law for farmland.

I hope the General Assembly will reduce the minimum size for wildlife land. The minimum for farmland and wildlife land should be set to five acres.

John Shaw
(Political and Conservation committee member)