"Hi Joe:
My wife and I own approx 142 acres of farmland and woodland on Little Lane. Our taxes on this acreage was $299.73 or $2.11 per acre. I know farming is a hard and risky business but I feel the taxes on this acreage is low enough. The taxes on our farmhouse and outbuildings is approx $1701.00 per year and I don't want other County residents to feel they are subsiding me by exempting my dwelling from tax. We use County resources like schools, roads, fire protection, etc--I want to pay my fair share. One of comments on your blog regarding this said the tax reduction would compensate for the loss of value of down zoning. PLEASE--Does the person who made that comment think I would be satisfied saving $1,700 a year for the value of my development rights on 142 acres?!"
Bob
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
11 comments:
Bob:
Rick Pollitt thinks that you are dumb enough to take his bribe. Let's show him what we think -- vote for John Baker in the primary.
Ditto that -- Baker is the only one who has a chance of ousting Pollitt since Ollinger is an "also ran".
Because of the distances involved, farm families actually have a greated impact on the County budget than other homes in many matters -- roads, school busing, etc..
Bob
Yes you might if you combine that with set aside monies. This brings up another question will the farmers that have already received preservation dollars be included in this plan?
Vote for John Wayne Baker! He is the man.
Some people are just to stupid to breathe. If any of these people owned more than the .75 to 1 acre their homes sit on, if they have that much land they'd be screaming bloody murder if someone suggested downzoning their property. Leave the farmers alone before they quit providing you with food that allows you to sit on your butts talking about things that do not concern you or your land.
I know I am going to get blasted for this remark but here it goes. IMHO the majority farmers of the Eastern Shore are “hobby farmers” and still own and “farm” their land, taking advantage of every government tax break. subsidy, $$ for land preservation, etc. while still lobbing for every advantage and peak they can get – but hey, that now seems like the American way. The issue becomes who is paying. As a taxpayer I do not mind paying my “fair share” but it seems really hard to swallow when the farmer (who is also paying taxes) has the advantage of all the perks and the taxpayer none.
On the other hand, I also feel they have the right to use their land in whatever way they want, (development or not), let’s not forget it is their land, their property.
However concerning the comment: No Farm, No Food, make no mistake real farming, as opposed to “hobby” framing is done on such huge scales that the farmers on the Eastern Shore could only dream about. Real farming is in America’s bread basket, the Mid-West where mega farms, both corporate and family owed and operate on a scale that would make the ES farmer’s head spin.
612 I would not say that. Everyone I know that buys produce buys it from local stands in the summer. It's fresh from the soil, not sitting for ten days before it hits the store. You count on corporate farms run by wall street you are just digger us deeper in the hole of dependency on another area not in our grasp. I think that it should be manditory in school to provide an agriculture/nutrition class instead of all of this high tech crap. You can learn to program all the computers in the world but if you don't know what to eat, how to grow it, and why its needed for your body, you are just further exasperating the existing problem of obesity and diabetes that is developing in kids. Every kid that I have seen that has been introduced to growing a garden has loved the sense of accomplishment and they have learned a deep apreciation for how food gets here and what it takes for the full growth cycle. It sure beats the heck out of having them think that their food is born in a box with a clown on the side. In this economy, our society is in the shape that it is in because there are no basic survival skills anymore. You rely on a booming unrealistic economy, high tech jobs, and an open end of available credit with no vision in sight to think....hmmmmm when will this bubble burst? Now people are scampering to survive. The farmers get my full respect. It's a very physical job, it's hot alot of the times, and you don't get rich at it. Hat's off to the farmers!
Are any of you aware that the farmer has to claim all farm subsidies as income on their tax return. USDA sends every farmer a 1099 showing amount of each type government payment received and the farmer pays tax on the subsidy.
6:12 I believe there is a mite less land on the Eastern Shore than in the mid west. So lets have all the grain farmers, vegetable farmers, chicken farmers and any other farmers on the shore quit their "hobby". What do you think would happen? What do you think would happen to the price of food? How many non "hobby" farmers
would also be out of work?
Are you prepared to become a "hobby" gardener to put food on your family's table? Do you have enough land and time to become a "hobby" gardener? Maybe you can rent some land from the ex-farmer and find out what farming is all about. As far as I know there is no government subsidy for a garden, but I am sure the government would be happy to accommodate if all the "hobby" farmers (as you think of them) quit.
Sorry we dont farm thousands of acres of farm land, that does not make us hobby farmers. The defintion of a hobby farmer is someone who makes $5k or less annual income. We know folks that farm anywhere from 1k to 10k acres each in either , Wicomico, Worchester, Somerset, or Dorchester Co. And usually it is a combonation of a few. No Farms No Food is a slogan that the Farm Bureau Federation came up with in (I believe) 2008. It applies to anyone who farms in America, wheather it is 500 acres or 500,000acres.
If you think farming on the eastern shore is a hobby come on out at 5:30 any morning of the week and let me share my hobby with you. Pack a lunch bucket because you'll enjoy yourself so much you won't want to leave the fields at noon when the sun is high in the sky. We'll break for supper around 5:30 then take back to the fields again around 6:00 or 6:15, don't worry about the dark setting in on us, we got lights on the ole John Deere. At the end of the day you can come in and help with the paper work that has to be kept. Tell the wife and kids you'll be home around 10:00pm, just in time to take a shower and go to bed only to start all over again at 5:30 am. When can we expect to see you out in the field?
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