| Subject: Re: Off Topic for Lumpy |
| From: "miso@sushi.com" <miso@sushi.com> |
| Date: 10/05/2010, 22:51 |
| Newsgroups: alt.conspiracy.area51 |
On May 10, 7:04 am, obviouslydelusional
<obviouslydelusio...@gmail.com> wrote:
Here's the deal about 40 acre lots in AZ. There's a quirk in their
property tax law (some would call it a loophole) that says if a lot is
at least 40 acres in size (maybe 36, I forget) and you leave it
unfenced so that it can be used as grazing land, you pay property tax
at an agricultural rate on the land. That means you pay less than
$100 per year for the land part of your property tax. You do have to
pay tax on improvements (like the McMansion you'll build), and you are
allowed to fence about 2 1/2 acres, but it's a hell of a tax deal. If
the lot is subdivided below 40 acres, the tax shelter is lost. A lot
of large ranches have subdivided themselves into 40 acre parcels for
city slickers to build their country dream homes. When this is done
there are usually deed restrictions to prevent further subdivision
which could threaten agricultural status.
In California, there is a similar tax dodge scheme. You enter the
parcel into the WIlliamson act. Usually 40 acres is required, but
people have done less. Then it is taxed at an agricultural value.
There is a provision to pull the property out of the Williamson act,
so basically the Williamson act is a tool in land banking.
Land bank schemes can get pretty disgusting, where disgusting is
defined to be the point where I won't participate. ;-) There are ways
to get money from the feds for not growing anything on your land. This
is done by both the evil conservatives and the limousine liberals.