Article
Unintended effects of preferential tax assessment on farmland protection: Evidence from Utah's Farmland Assessment Act
Journal of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association
(2023)
Abstract
This study examines the effect of Utah's Greenbelt program,
the state's preferential tax‐assessment effort to protect
farmland, using an instrumental variable‐fixed effects
strategy. We find that an unintended effect of the program
leads to more conversion of agricultural land to develop-
ment than the protection it provides. The protection effect
is concentrated on parcels with smaller agricultural areas,
while conversion occurs on parcels with larger agricultural
areas. Our findings shed light on the rationale of a proposed
amendment to the policy—Utah House Bill 25—which did
not pass during the 2016 legislative session.
Disciplines
Publication Date
2023
Citation Information
Arthur Caplan. "Unintended effects of preferential tax assessment on farmland protection: Evidence from Utah's Farmland Assessment Act" Journal of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (2023) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/arthur_caplan/151/