Taxes and the Land in Kentucky

I’ve been pricing the cost of improvements to the land in Kentucky. As part of that, I needed to understand the tax implications of anything I might do, so I called the assessor’s office.

The clerk let me know that building any structure, even if it was just a little room with a toilet, would raise the taxes beyond what I was willing to pay.

And then this happened.

Clerk: Are there any structures currently on the property?

Me: Just a falling-down barn.

Clerk: How many acres?

Me: Twenty.

Clerk: Do you have a farm number?

Me: I do! I just got one so I can make improvements to the land to help the wildlife.

I told her my farm number.

Clerk: You’re currently coded residential. With a farm number…(clicking sounds)… your taxes would go from… (more clicking sounds)…are you sitting down?

Me: (dreading the reason I might need to be sitting) Yes.

Clerk: Your taxes will go from $853 dollars a year to $68 dollars.

Me: A… year?

Clerk: Yes. With a farm number, your taxes will be $68 dollars a year. Whatever you build would raise your taxes to $564 a year. They’d be less than what you’ve been paying.

I laughed, and she did, too.

Sometimes I hold off doing something because I’m afraid of the answer, but it turns out I’m only delaying good news.

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Chewing the Cud of Good

Thankful for the people I get to write with Sunday through Monday, 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. As one of us greets the others when he logs into the zoom chat, “My peeples!”