Committee reviews H.134 amendment to change land-use-change-tax valuation and allow limited abatement for affordable housing

A legislative committee reviewed draft committee amendment 2.4 to H.134 that would authorize the state to use a proration formula — rather than treating a withdrawn portion as a separate parcel — to calculate the land‑use‑change tax and would create limited abatement for small withdrawals developed as affordable housing or long‑term rentals.

The amendment, explained by Kirby (staff member), would direct the Property Valuation and Review (PVR) division to develop a formula or chart to estimate fair‑market value for the withdrawn acreage based on the portion of enrolled acreage and the parcel’s grand list value. "It's kind of trying to get the best of both worlds there," Kirby said, describing the change as an administrative approach that avoids on‑the‑ground reappraisals but may lower assessed value in many cases.

The committee discussed the policy tradeoff: proration simplifies valuation work but can produce lower tax bills and thereby reduce the financial disincentive to remove land from current‑use status. "And it's not, I think the thing here that probably is…