Senate committee hears split testimony on bill to clarify tax treatment of farm storage

Senate Bill 2039, proposed to define "raising of agricultural crops" and clarify when storage facilities qualify for agricultural property-tax treatment, was the subject of a lengthy hearing before the Senate Finance and Tax Committee on an item introduced for the committee by Senator Myrtle.

The bill’s sponsors and supporters told the panel the measure is intended to remove inconsistent local interpretations that have led some counties to tax producer-owned storage inside municipal boundaries as commercial property. Representative Ben Koppelman, district 16, told the committee, “let’s either tax it or don’t,” arguing the intent of state law is not to tax producer-controlled storage used as part of production. Pete Hanover of the North Dakota Farm Bureau said the interim committee had worked on the problem for several sessions and urged the…