Crist vetoes farmland development bill

Gov. Charlie Crist has rejected a bill that would have allowed agriculture property owners to claim a tax exemption when selling their land for development purposes. Currently, farmland is reclassified by property appraisers when it is sold for at least three times what it’s worth as an agricultural plot, thus removing the owner’s eligibility for a tax exemption. That bill, which was approved by a large majority in both the House and the Senate last month, aimed to block that reclassification. “Rather than benefiting farmers as the greenbelt provisions are intended, this bill could subsidize private real estate speculation at the expense of the taxpayer,” Crist said. [Tampa Bay Business Journal]

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