Committee hears options to make land-use-change tax more predictable for buyers, farmers

BURLINGTON — Jill Remick, director of Property Valuation and Review at the tax department, and Keith Thompson, forestlands program manager with Vermont Forests, Parks and Recreation, told the Agriculture, Food Resiliency & Forestry Committee that lawmakers face a trade-off between making the land use change tax (LUCT) predictable for buyers and preserving the state’s working-lands objectives.

Remick said the current process leaves landowners and buyers uncertain about LUCT liabilities until a local lister revalues withdrawn acreage. “The land use change tax right now is 10% of the value of the enrolled acreage and farm buildings, of course, are 0 if they're enrolled in the program as well,” Remick said. She added that partial withdrawals require the lister to value the withdrawn acreage as a standalone parcel, which creates a “chicken and egg challenge” for people closing on property.

The uncertainty can affect closings, Remick said: depending on whether buyers and sellers have agreed who will pay the LUCT, “you've got the hot potato” after closing. To reduce that uncertainty, Remick and others discussed the NRC’s…