State amendment would give tax relief to tree farmers

Finding opposition to the state Constitutional amendment that would give property tax relief to tree farmers is not easy given endorsements ranging from the Georgia Chamber of Commerce to the Sierra Club.

Amendment No. 1 on the General Election ballot would change the way forest land of more than 2,000 acres is assessed. Instead of fair-market value, the land would be taxed based on its actual use. That method of assessment is already in place for individual and family-owned forests of 2,000 acres or less. The change would benefit corporations and owners of larger land parcels.

Tree farmers in fast-growing areas have seen steep increases in their property taxes, a factor in deciding to develop or sell their land.

One exception to the chorus of amendment supporters is Kate Shropshire, the founder of Urban Independents, a progressive, grass-roots voter education group in Atlanta.

“This is a tough one,” said Shropshire, noting that many of the groups she generally agrees with — including environmental and conservation organizations — support the amendment.

Shropshire’s main opposition stems from the way the amendment is worded, which she calls “misleading.”

“It’s making it sound like we’re protecting land that is public-use land,” she said. “That’s not true. It’s not land that we will own or have access to.”

The question to voters as worded on the ballot, reads “Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended so as to provide that the General Assembly by general law shall encourage the preservation, conservation, and protection of the state’s forests through the special assessment and taxation of certain forest lands and assistance grants to local government?”

In exchange for the tax relief, forest owners must agree to not subdivide or otherwise develop their land for at least 15 years. If they break the agreement, they would have to repay any taxes they would have owed along with other financial penalties.

State tax dollars would offset most of the lost revenues for local schools and governments. An estimate by the University of Georgia’s Center for Forest Business estimated the potential cost to the state to keep up to 5.3 million acres in timberland would be as much as $54.7 million, or less than 1 percent of the total property taxes collected statewide.

Steve McWilliams, executive vice president of the Georgia Forestry Association, which represents the state’s timber industry, said the 5.3 million acres are held by about 150 owners, but that it doesn’t matter who owns the land.

“It’s about keeping forests together for the economics of it, the environmental aspects of it… We need to keep land in trees as long as we can.”

Forests are natural filters for air and water pollution, and trees represent a potential energy source for the state. Georgia Power and Oglethorpe Power recently announced plans to build wood-burning electric plants, and investors and researchers are working to turn pine trees into ethanol to fuel cars and trucks.

Earl Barrs, a middle Georgia tree farmer and a member of the Georgia Board of Natural Resources, said he’s seen assessments on his tree farm in Bleckley County rise as much as 400 percent in recent years, and foresters like him “are being priced out of the timber business.”

Georgia is the only state in the Southeast that taxes tree farms based on fair market value. A UGA study found that at an average of $4.77 an acre, Georgia had the highest taxes on timberland in nation, with the exception of New York and Pennsylvania.

Glenn Dowling is executive vice president of the Georgia Wildlife Federation, a nonprofit organization lobbying for a permanent state funding source to conserve land. Dowling said the organization supports the amendment because placing a hold on forests for 15 years would give conservation groups time to save the forests. The best land could be purchased for public use, or a permanent easement could be placed on the land, ensuring it is never developed, he said.