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Businesses, farmers and resorts urge Ways & Means to drop or narrow proposed property-tax classifications
Summary
Lodging operators, ski-area owners, the state chamber, land trusts and farm stakeholders told the House Ways & Means Committee that expanding non-homestead property tax classes would add complexity, instability and administrative cost and could single out industries such as resorts and farms for higher taxes.
Multiple business and land-conservation witnesses told the House Ways & Means Committee that the classification scheme now under discussion — which would split non-homestead property into several distinct rate classes — risks unpredictability, administrative cost and unfair outcomes for small operators.
Brian Maggiano, vice president of the Vermont Lodging Association and owner-operator of an independent inn, said the lodging sector fears added volatility. "The uncertainty creates a big piece of anxiety or a big case of anxiety for anybody, especially as a small operator," he said, adding that many inns and B&Bs operate on narrow margins and rely on stable tax treatment to plan.
Why it matters: Committee language would create defined non-homestead classes (for example, commercial, industrial, resort) and let the Legislature set different rates by class. Witnesses said splitting the tax base into many segments will…
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