Bill Text: NJ A4465 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Concerns assessment of farmland for property tax purposes.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-12-16 - Reported and Referred to Assembly Appropriations Committee [A4465 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-A4465-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman HEATHER SIMMONS
District 3 (Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem)
Assemblyman ROY FREIMAN
District 16 (Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex and Somerset)
Assemblywoman ANDREA KATZ
District 8 (Atlantic and Burlington)
SYNOPSIS
Concerns assessment of farmland for property tax purposes.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning the assessment of land that is in agricultural or horticultural use for property tax purposes and amending P.L.1964, c.48.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 8 of P.L.1964, c.48 (C.54:4-23.8) is amended to read as follows:
8. When land which is in agricultural or horticultural use and is being valued, assessed, and taxed under the provisions of P.L.1964, c.48 (C.54:4-23.1 et seq.), is applied to a use other than agricultural or horticultural, it shall be subject to additional taxes, hereinafter referred to as roll-back taxes[, in an amount]. The mere cessation of agricultural or horticultural activity on the land shall not subject the land to roll-back taxes in the absence of an active conversion of the land to a non-agricultural or non-horticultural use.
Roll-back taxes shall be equal to the difference, if any, between the taxes paid or payable on the basis of the valuation and the assessment authorized hereunder and the taxes that would have been paid or payable had the land been valued, assessed and taxed as other land in the taxing district, in the current tax year (the year of change in use) and in [such] each of the two tax years immediately preceding, in which the land was valued, assessed and taxed as herein provided.
If the tax year in which a change in use of the land occurs, the land was not valued, assessed, and taxed under P.L.1964, c.48 (C.54:4-23.1 et seq.), then [such] the land shall be subject to roll-back taxes for such of the two tax years, immediately preceding, in which the land was valued, assessed and taxed hereunder.
[Notwithstanding the provisions of any law, rule, or regulation to the contrary, land] Land which is valued, assessed, and taxed under the provisions of P.L.1964, c.48 (C.54:4-23.1 et seq.) [and] shall not be subject to roll-back taxes if it is acquired by: the State, a local government unit, a qualifying tax exempt nonprofit organization, or the Palisades Interstate Park Commission, for recreation and conservation purposes [shall not be subject to roll-back taxes]. As used in this section, "acquired," "local government unit," "qualifying tax exempt nonprofit organization," and "recreation and conservation purposes" mean the same as those terms are defined pursuant to section 3 of P.L.1999, c.152 (C.13:8C-3).
In determining the amounts of the roll-back taxes chargeable on land which has undergone a change in use, the assessor shall for each of the roll-back tax years involved, ascertain:
(a) The full and fair value of such land under the valuation standard applicable to other land in the taxing district;
(b) The amount of the land assessment for the particular tax year by multiplying such full and fair value by the county percentage level, as determined by the county board of taxation in accordance with section 3 of P.L.1960, c.51 (C.54:4-2.27);
(c) The amount of the additional assessment on the land for the particular tax year by deducting the amount of the actual assessment on the land for that year from the amount of the land assessment determined under (b) hereof; and
(d) The amount of the roll-back tax for that tax year by multiplying the amount of the additional assessment determined under (c) hereof by the general property tax rate of the taxing district applicable for that tax year.
(cf: P.L.2001, c.312, s.2)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would revise the "Farmland Assessment Act of 1964" to clarify that the mere cessation of agricultural or horticultural activity on land that is valued, assessed, and taxed as farmland under that law, will not subject the land to roll-back taxes unless an active conversion of the land to a non-agricultural or non-horticultural use takes place. "Roll-back taxes" are the additional taxes assessed on a property that is no longer dedicated to agricultural or horticultural use. The amount of roll-back taxes assessed on a property are the difference between the property taxes paid on the property as assessed for agricultural or horticultural use and the taxes that would have otherwise been due if the property had been taxed as other land within the taxing district. These taxes are assessed for the tax year in which agricultural or horticultural use was discontinued and the two tax years preceding.
The provisions of this bill conform the "Farmland Assessment Law of 1964" to a1981 New Jersey Tax Court decision in Jackson Twp. V. Paolin, 181 N.J. Super. 293, where the Court found it "difficult to imagine that the intent of any rollback provision was to impose an extra tax burden on a landowner who simply grew old or became disabled and no longer could actively devote his property to agriculture."
