In the sections that follow, I first document the rise of inequality in the distribution of farmland that followed a sharp drop in farm property tax rates after 1930. Then I show, by cross-sectional analysis, a positive relationship between higher property tax rates and more intensive use of farmland, which in turn is associated with more equal distribution of farmland. Conversely, I find property tax relief associated with underuse and underimprovement of land.
“Rising Inequality and Falling Property Tax Rates,”1992. In Gene Wunderlich (ed.), Land Ownership and Taxation in American Agriculture. Boulder: Westview Press, pp. 119-37. Offprints distributed by The Robert Schalkenbach Foundation.
