A real estate tax levy for soil and water conservation

Excerpt

FEDERAL, state, and local funds now spent in support of soil and water conservation are inadequate. An appropriate source of supplemental funding could be obtained through a real estate tax levy earmarked for soil and water conservation work within each conservation district throughout the United States.

My reasons for proposing a real estate tax levy are twofold. First, such a levy would provide continuity of funds for essential conservation efforts within each district. Second, by imposing a levy on all real estate, every citizen would share the cost of sustaining land productivity in his or her own community.

Union County, Ohio, exemplifies what a minimal tax would do to provide funds for soil and water conservation. Union County, a typical rural county in Ohio, encompasses 1,180 farms averaging 205 acres each. Only 12 percent of the county's 29,536 people live on these farms. Farmland in the county is valued at ∼506 million.

Ohio residents adopted legislation about 10 years ago that makes it possible for landowners to opt for an agricultural productivity evaluation as opposed to a market evaluation of their farmland for tax purposes. When Ohio's current agricultural use valuation is applied …