摘要：I estimate the magnitude and the geographic distribution of property tax impacts of the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area's two farmland protection programs. The total 2001 net tax reduction for participating landowners was $12.5 million, ranging from $0.2 million in Ramsey County to $3.2 million in Washington County. These "tax breaks" were necessarily matched by tax increases for all property owners, both participants and non-participants, but the pattern of these "tax shifts" does not match the pattern of tax breaks. Residents in the periphery of the metropolitan area pay more (on a per tax dollar basis) than do residents closer to the core-just the reverse of the pattern of tax breaks. Preferential tax schemes such as these are often touted as "free," because their municipal budget implications are obscured by the complexities of the property tax system. But the full financial effects are very real indeed. Somebody has to pay.
