77-1343. Agricultural or horticultural land; terms, defined.

The purpose of sections 77-1343 to 77-1347.01 is to provide a special valuation for qualified agricultural or horticultural land so that the current assessed valuation of the land for property tax purposes is the value that the land would have without regard to the value the land would have for other purposes or uses. For purposes of sections 77-1343 to 77-1347.01:

(1) Agricultural or horticultural land means that land as defined in section 77-1359;

(2) Applicant means an owner or lessee;

(3) Lessee means a person leasing agricultural or horticultural land from a state or governmental subdivision which is an owner that is subject to taxation under section 77-202.11;

(4) Owner means an owner of record of agricultural or horticultural land or the purchaser of agricultural or horticultural land under a contract for sale; and

(5) Special valuation means the value that the land would have for agricultural or horticultural purposes or uses without regard to the actual value the land would have for other purposes or uses.

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Annotations

The county assessor's valuation of homesite acres was not arbitrary, capricious, or unreasonable, where the valuation was based on the sale of similarly sized parcels within the same market and where sufficient differences justified the $14,000 difference in valuation from another nearby property. Burdess v. Washington Cty. Bd. of Equal., 298 Neb. 166, 903 N.W.2d 35 (2017).

The county assessor's valuation of wasteland was not arbitrary, capricious, or unreasonable, where the valuation was based on a market analysis of arm's-length sales of property sold, subject to certain probable and legal agricultural purposes and uses. Burdess v. Washington Cty. Bd. of Equal., 298 Neb. 166, 903 N.W.2d 35 (2017).

The special valuation statutes were enacted because of the economic impact that urban development and other nonagricultural development have on neighboring agricultural and horticultural land. Special valuation protects persons engaged in agricultural endeavors from excessive tax burdens that might force them to discontinue those endeavors. Burdess v. Washington Cty. Bd. of Equal., 298 Neb. 166, 903 N.W.2d 35 (2017).