Bill aims to change taxation on family-inherited farms

Keeping Massachusetts farms intact. There is legislation on Beacon Hill that would change how farmland is taxed when someone dies and a family member inherits it.

Bob Davis has been growing and selling apples for a long time.

“I came into farming in ’39. My grandfather and father bought Bolton Orchards,” said Davis.

Davis wants to hand over all acres of Bolton Orchards as they are to his daughter Sarah and her husband Joel. But, he says the current inheritance tax on farmland in Massachusetts could be a burden they can’t afford.

"Farmers tend to be land rich and money poor and so what happens is in order to pay the taxes when they need to be paid. They need to sell off a portion of their land, so it begins to perpetuate the farms getting smaller and smaller and smaller,” said State Rep. Kate Hogan.

Hogan says that's because currently farmland, when inherited, is taxed at its 'highest and best use.”

So Hogan proposed legislation. 'An act to establish estate tax valuation for farms.'

That would have farmland, when inherited, assessed at its agricultural value.

According to the Massachusetts Farm Bureau Federation, the difference can be substantial for families.

"House lot here is worth about $250,000. Ag land is worth about 12 or $15,000 so this makes a lot of sense it's gonna preserve that land,” said Brad Mitchell with the Massachusetts Farm Bureau Federation.

This family says preserve a product that more and more people want.

"People want to eat healthy, they want to eat local. What we're trying to do is provide those products for them,” said Sarah O’Toole.

Farm owners who inherit the land with agricultural tax value would have to maintain the land as is for at least 10 years or they would be subjected to that higher tax rate.

The proposed legislation is currently before the Joint Revenue Committee.

Cox Media Group