As farm groups discuss priorities to take to the Indiana Statehouse for the 2025 General Assembly, you can bet property taxes will be near the top of that list. The Indiana Department of Local Government Finance announced the base rate for farmland at $2,280 per acre for property taxes in 2025, a 20% increase from this year’s $1,900 and the third straight year of big increases according to Purdue Extension’s Larry DeBoer.
“Farmers, I think, have been hit exceptionally hard on property taxes this year,” says Joe Stoller, chair of the Indiana Soybean Alliance Membership and Policy Committee. “And the way they’re figured, I mean, it’s probably only going to get worse for the next so many years. There definitely needs to be some talks about what we can do to change the formulas on how things are calculated. Some of the increases just are not sustainable, and they won’t be.”
Stoller was a guest on the latest Indiana Ag Policy Podcast, available now at hoosieragtoday.com. He’s joined on the podcast by Steve Howell, Senior Director of Industry Affairs for the Indiana Soybean Alliance, who says there will be a broad coalition of farm groups looking to get that property tax formula changed, and it will take farmers stepping up to make it happen.
“We need to hear stories from farmers. You know, what is that impact? I’ve got relationships with lawmakers both at the state and federal level. I talk with them often. It’s good to have that connection, but without a farmer’s story, it doesn’t mean as much. So, we need to hear from farmers what’s the impact of a particular policy issue. So, what are the numbers? How bad have you been hit with increase in property tax?”
We discuss statewide and national policy priorities like biofuels and the farm bill on the Indiana Ag Policy Podcast, available now on your favorite podcast platform.
