Amendment 1Constitutional amendment · Put on the ballot by lawmakers
Raise conservation tax-break acreage cap
Explain it like I'm 5
Georgia gives qualifying farm and timber land a lower property-tax value when owners promise to keep using it that way. This would let one owner use that break on up to 4,000 acres instead of 2,000, like doubling the size of a discount coupon.
Yes vote
Raising the maximum qualifying acreage for one owner from 2,000 to 4,000 acres.
No vote
Keeping the maximum qualifying acreage at 2,000 acres.
The question to ask yourself
Is preserving larger working farms and timberland worth extending a tax break that can reduce local revenue?
The case for
- Could help larger farm and timber operations remain in production instead of selling land for development.
- The 10-year covenant encourages continued agricultural or timber use and can preserve open space and habitat.
- Supporters say the current cap does not fit some modern working operations.
Backed by: Georgia Farm Bureau, Georgia Conservancy
The case against
- The expanded benefit mainly reaches owners with more than 2,000 qualifying acres, not typical small farms.
- Lower assessed values could reduce local property-tax revenue for schools and governments.
- The wording is not limited to small or family-owned operations, so large landowners can qualify.
Opposed by: No organized opposition found
- Money
- The official fiscal effect is not estimated; newly eligible land would receive the program's lower current-use assessment, which may reduce local property-tax collections.
- Don't be misled
- Calling it only a family-farm measure is misleading because the change raises the cap for any owner whose land otherwise qualifies.