State and local governments in this country have adopted a number of policies to regulate the conversion of rural land to developed uses. One of the most significant and least understood is preferential assessment of rural land under the real property tax, often called use-value assessment (UVA) or current-use assessment. This book explains and analyzes the critical questions raised by this fiscal tool for farmland preservation. Under UVA, the assessments of various parcels of land within a given state may vary tremendously from property to property. A tract that is zoned residential with access to a turnpike might be assessed at $7,865 per acre. In the very same neighborhood, though, an even larger tract of vacant land might be assessed at a mere $127 per acre, which is far below the market value. How can there be such dramatic differences in the assessment of land values within the same community or neighborhood? Has the town assessor failed to treat property owners fairly and equally, as required by state law? Not at all. Nearly all states across the country permit, and even require, local assessors to value some parcels of undeveloped land far below their fair market values for the purpose of levying local property taxes. Despite their stated purpose of preserving rural lands from urban development, UVA programs can have unintended negative consequences. One is erosion of the legal and constitutional principle of uniformity of taxation; another is shifting of the local tax burden to other property owners, perhaps in a regressive manner. Occasionally UVA programs generate political controversy and even legislative action concerning "fake farmers" who enjoy low property tax bills, but whose land might only be used to sell firewood or Christmas trees to a few friends and neighbors. This volume explains the origins, key features, impacts, and flaws of use-value assessment programs across the United States. It describes in detail the process and characteristics of UVA programs in 44 states and recommends reforms. This book serves as a road map for public officials, scholars, and journalists concerned with agricultural taxation and land use issues.

Agricultural Valuations: A Practical Guide has long been the standard text for students and professionals working on agricultural valuations. Taking a practical approach, it covers all the relevant techniques and legislation necessary to correctly value farms, assess farm rents, carry out arbitrations, inventories and records of condition, including valuation clauses on sales of farms, livestock, soils, management agreements, valuation in court proceedings and a glossary of useful information. In this fifth edition, Gwyn Williams's original text is taken on by Jeremy Moody and Nick Millard, renowned experts in the field, bringing the book right up to date to reflect recent changes in the rural economy, including development, diversification and renewable energy and specialist valuations and reference to all the latest legislation. Clear and accessible to students and professionals alike, readers will find Agricultural Valuations an invaluable guide to best practice in agricultural valuations.

"Attention to value capture as a source of public revenue has been increasing in the United States and internationally as some governments experience declines in revenue from traditional sources and others face rapid urban population growth and require large investments in public infrastructure. Privately funded improvements by land-owners can increase the value of their land and property. Public actions, such as investments in infrastructure, the provision of public services, and planning and land use regulation, can also affect the value of land and property. Value capture is a means to realize as public revenue some portion of that increase in value through various revenue-raising instruments. This book, based on the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy's sixth annual land policy conference in May 2011, examines the concept of value capture, its forms, and applications. The first section, on the conceptual framework and history of value capture, reviews its relationship to compensation for partial takings; the long history of value capture policies in Britain and France; and the remarkable expansion of tax increment financing in California. The second section reviews the application of particular instruments of value capture, including the conversion of rural to urban land in China, town planning schemes in India, and community benefit agreements. The third section focuses on ends instead of means and examines the use of value capture by community land trusts to provide affordable housing, the use of land development to finance transit, and the use of various fees to fund airports. The final section explores potential extensions of value capture mechanisms to tax-exempt nonprofits and to the management of state trust lands in the United States."--Publisher's website.

This book provides a clear outline of the key principles underlying property valuation and the current techniques and issues in the practice of valuation for the major sectors of the Australian real estate market. Formerly titled Valuation Principles and Practice, this entirely new third edition comprises Australia's leading advanced valuation textbook. The first part of the book, Principles of valuation, comprises chapters written by globally recognised academics and specialists on the principles of law, economics, planning, policy and finance, all in the context of property valuation. The second part of the book, Practice of valuation, comprises chapters written by acknowledged expert valuers on the practice of valuation for key property sectors including residential, retail, commercial, industrial, leisure and rural. Further, chapters also cover valuations for purposes including lending, insurance, rating, taxation and financial reporting. The most up to date valuation text for the Australian market, this book will appeal to both valuation practitioners and undergraduate/postgraduate students as well as to accountants, lawyers and professionals dealing with property valuation issues.

This book provides an easy-to-follow introduction to the principal methods of property valuation in Australia within the context of International Valuation Standards, so bridging the gap between traditional property valuation methods and the modern era of global valuation governance. Providing a framework for valuation practice, the book outlines the property asset class, the role of valuation, concepts of value and valuation standards before focusing on the instructing, undertaking and reporting aspects of the valuation process. The market approach to valuation is addressed through the comparative method of valuation with the income approach addressed through the capitalisation of income, discounted cash flow and profits methods of valuation and the cost approach addressed through the replacement cost, reproduction cost and residual or hypothetical development methods of valuation. As an introductory textbook on property valuation methods, this book is a companion to Australia’s leading advanced valuation textbook, Principles and Practice of Property Valuation in Australia edited by the same author and also published by Routledge, which is a more advanced text considering key principles underlying property valuation and current techniques and issues in the practice of property valuation for major sectors of the Australian property market. The most up-to-date valuation text book for the Australian market, this book will appeal to both valuation practitioners and undergraduate/postgraduate students as well as to accountants, auditors, lawyers, lenders and all professionals dealing with property valuation issues.