Ohio May Offer Maple Land Property Tax Exemption

[buckeye gold]

“HB 109 would offer an incentive of zero property taxes to those who make at least 30 taps per acre on a minimum of 15 trees,” Patterson added. “… Second, contingent upon this tax break, landowners would practice enhanced forestry practices by participating in Ohio’s forest management plan.

I hope there is better definition then this in the bill. It's pretty vague and not many would qualify under this in my area. Does this mean your whole timber acreage has to have 30 taps per acre and 15 trees? I only tap about half my woods, but have 118 taps total on about 10 acres. In my area 30 taps per acre would not catch many properties. Our woods are a mix of oak, Maple and other hardwoods. I know it's geared towards Northern Ohio, but us southern producers would like to get it too. We used to run several hundred taps when I was a kid on 45 acres and we wouldn't qualify by this wording. we'd have to have had over 1,300 taps on that 45 acres. That's a lot in this area. Our Maples just aren't that dense. Again someone pushing an agenda that benefits them and not everyone.

[jdircksen]

Very interesting. I wonder if it would apply to a residential property of 1 acre with 15 maple trees and 30 taps. In some areas, property taxes are several thousands of dollars.

For example, I live in the city, but have 0.86 acres and 9 huge maples. I'd gladly plant 6 trees if it means I'd qualify.

[Kh7722]

I hope there is better definition then this in the bill. It's pretty vague and not many would qualify under this in my area. Does this mean your whole timber acreage has to have 30 taps per acre and 15 trees? I only tap about half my woods, but have 118 taps total on about 10 acres. In my area 30 taps per acre would not catch many properties. Our woods are a mix of oak, Maple and other hardwoods. I know it's geared towards Northern Ohio, but us southern producers would like to get it too. We used to run several hundred taps when I was a kid on 45 acres and we wouldn't qualify by this wording. we'd have to have had over 1,300 taps on that 45 acres. That's a lot in this area. Our Maples just aren't that dense. Again someone pushing an agenda that benefits them and not everyone.

The way I understand it is what ever area is tapped with the minimum of 30 taps per acre. So if you have 50 acres total, and 10 acres are tapped with at least 300 taps only that 10 acres would qualify.
Kevin

[johnallin]

I hope there is better definition then this in the bill. It's pretty vague and not many would qualify under this in my area. Does this mean your whole timber acreage has to have 30 taps per acre and 15 trees? I only tap about half my woods, but have 118 taps total on about 10 acres. In my area 30 taps per acre would not catch many properties. Our woods are a mix of oak, Maple and other hardwoods. I know it's geared towards Northern Ohio, but us southern producers would like to get it too. We used to run several hundred taps when I was a kid on 45 acres and we wouldn't qualify by this wording. we'd have to have had over 1,300 taps on that 45 acres. That's a lot in this area. Our Maples just aren't that dense. Again someone pushing an agenda that benefits them and not everyone.

I feel your pain Buckeye, but 30 taps on a minimum of 15 trees per acre is actually pretty lax. My take is it's designed to offer incentives to re-invest in Maple as a business and promote good forest husbandry at the same time.

Without a defined minimum tap/tree count, you could write off taxes with one or two trees... that doesn't make any sense either. Pretty sure you need to show income from maple sales before you can get any relief.