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Bill to support Alaska farmers passes the Senate
JUNEAU - Senate Bill 161, which supports Alaska farmers by improving their municipal property tax breaks, unanimously passed the Senate on Monday. Sponsored by Senator Jesse Bjorkman, R-Nikiski, the bill expands the tax breaks to include structures on farmlands and updates the financial qualifications and application requirements.
“Alaska farmers can find themselves in a financial bind if the value of land around them is rising, leading to higher property taxes,” said Senator Bjorkman. “Taxing them at the farmland rate encourages farmers to keep their land in production, rather than selling the land or developing it themselves.”
Senate Bill 161 replaces the current requirement that 10 percent of a farmer’s income is derived from farm operations with filing an IRS Schedule F and producing $1,000 in annual sales, the latter of which is the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s definition of a farm. The sales requirement incentivizes start-up farmers and small operations and provides increased privacy, as a farmer will no longer have to submit information on all of their sources of income to an assessor.
“I think it’s important to limit the burden of unfunded mandates on local governments,” said Senator Bjorkman. “We have narrowed the scope of the mandatory tax break to only those farms that produce food for people or livestock because I believe that addressing our state’s food insecurity is important enough that it merits this tax break.”
To allow municipalities to support agriculture operations that provide economic benefit but do not contribute to the in-state food supply, the optional tax exemption in Alaska is also expanded under SB 161. Municipalities would have the ability by ordinance to offer full or partial exemptions on farmland and farm structures for the types of agriculture and aquaculture operations that it deems as locally beneficial.
Senate Bill 161 now moves to the House for consideration.
Senator Jesse Bjorkman has also provided two radio actualities which you can find here: Radio Actuality 1, Radio Actuality 2.
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