Measure advances to delay state farmland tax hike

Lawmakers are advancing a proposed one-year delay in new calculations for property taxes on Indiana farmland.

It could delay an average 25-percent increase in tax payments for farm owners.

The bill would stop the state from using updated soil productivity figures in setting new property tax rates this year. The productivity measure is one of the factors used to determine the land value. Farmers have been fretting about the planned increase for months.

The legislative proposal would require state tax officials and Purdue University agriculture researchers to prepare a review of the soil productivity measurement for the Legislature to consider next year.

Bill sponsor Sen. Jean Leising of Oldenburg says she wants to make sure farmland is being assessed in a commonsense way.

The House Ways and Means Committee approved the bill Monday after it earlier passed the Senate.