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MFU identifies tax relief as legislative priority

The Minnesota Farmers Union (MFU) has again identified tax relief for farmers as a priority during the upcoming state legislative session.

MFU president Doug Peterson says he was disappointed legislation to exempt farm ground from capital bond levies didn’t pass last year.

“Well, the fact that we didn’t have the tax bill coming out of the last legislative session.  That’s got to be a huge issue for this shortened session, and then going into the election.  I’m anticipating that the tax bill and property tax relief for farmers is going to be played pretty hard by both parties as they go into the election.”

He tells Brownfield farmers have enough financial challenges as it is.

“Markets are down (while) inputs have not gone down to reflect any changes in the markets, so we need to have some relief at that point.  The thing about property taxes is it doesn’t make any difference how much or how little money you make, you still have a constant responsibility.”

Peterson says the percentage of property tax revenue generated from agricultural ground to help pay for projects like school levies is unfair to rural tax payers, and lawmakers need to come up with a solution.