Farm Taxes on the Rural Urban Fringe: A Case Study of Fairfax County, Virginia

Peter House

No 320062, Miscellaneous Publications from United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service

Abstract: Report Summary: The 1961 assessed value of properties in Fairfax County classed as farms was found to average $266 per acre. Over a 5-year period, assessed values of all farm properties had increased 163 percent. For unimproved properties with no change in acreage, the increase was about 300 percent. Farm properties were found generally to carry a lower assessment per acre than did nonfarm properties of 10 acres or more. There is some evidence that farm properties, especially in heavily urbanized parts of the County, are assessed at a lower fraction of full market value than are other properties. For the County as a whole, farms were found to be assessed at about 35 percent of full value. This compares with the County target ratio of 40 percent. Taxes on all farm real estate in Fairfax County averaged $8.02 per acre or about 10 times the statewide average. The range was from $5 per acre in the lowest district to $50 in the highest. Over the 5-year period, taxes had more than tripled. Taxes on farm real estate in Fairfax County represented slightly more than 1 percent of the estimated full market value of $754 per acre. This was about the same as the national average, but double the average for Virginia. By these comparisons, the rate in Fairfax County appears relatively high. The average farmer in Fairfax County would find it difficult to pay his taxes out of farm income alone. Many farmers, however, have outside sources of income.

Keywords: Community/Rural/Urban Development; Land Economics/Use; Public Economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 18
Date: 1963-03
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:uersmp:320062

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.320062

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