- State Budget Actions – The Bleeding Continues for Private Woodland Owners
- DNR Proposes New Cutting Notice Procedures
- Repeal of MFL Leasing Ban: The Next Steps
- Council on Forestry Asks Legislators to Consider Timber as an Agricultural Product
- WAFO Challenges Misconceptions About the “Huge” Tax Break MFL Provides Woodland Owners
- WAFO Membership is Free – Please Help Spread the Word
State Budget Actions – The Bleeding Continues for Private Woodland Owners
After reviewing a special Legislative Fiscal Bureau Paper on the status of the state’s Forestry Account, the Joint Finance Committee targeted the account to provide new funding for: $1.4 million to local governments to remove road kill deer; $4 million to fund state park and forest roads; and to provide an additional $2 million to local governments based on the acres of closed MFL land. The Forestry Account currently receives $9 million from the fees imposed on landowners in the MFL who close their land to public access. WAFO has argued that this special state tax, which is not collected on our other agricultural lands, should be reduced. See Forestry Account Overview #460.
DNR Proposes New Cutting Notice Procedures
With the recent passage of the 2015-2017 budget, MFL cutting notices can now be submitted without first gaining DNR approval if the cutting notices are completed by foresters accredited by the Society of American Foresters, Wisconsin Cooperating Foresters, Association of Cooperating Foresters, or Sustainable Forestry Initiative foresters. WAFO, along with the Wisconsin Woodland Owners Association, has concerns that this change could put landowners at risk should a cutting proceed and then subsequently be found by the DNR to be a violation of MFL rules. Given this change, we will now work to ensure that landowners be clearly informed that they have the option of having the DNR approve the cutting before proceeding. Please read the DNR’s Cutting Notice Guidance Summary.
Repeal of MFL Leasing Ban: The Next Steps
As part of the state biennial budget, WAFO worked with Joint Finance Committee members to gain support for rescinding the ban on the leasing of MFL lands. See WAFO’s letter to Joint Finance Committee members for more detail. A preliminary motion that included this action was proposed by Senator Tom Tiffany and Representative Mary Czaja. Unfortunately this element of the motion was not supported by some influential legislators for reasons we’re still trying to determine. We have made progress but it’s clear there’s a lot of educational work needed yet to do. As one representative stated, “I had no idea what the MFL was all about until now.”
WAFO will continue to make this issue a priority along with other needed MFL changes. We’ve received assurances that this item will be introduced as a piece of separate legislation this session. Whether this issue be a stand-alone bill, or bundled into a more comprehensive MFL bill, is still to be determined. At this point in time, we’re inclined to push to see it introduced separately. A separate bill would allow us to focus on a single issue, one which we could clearly explain and use to highlight the bigger threats our forests face from property tax inequities. We’ve learned that the MFL is so complex that, as one legislator said, “It makes your head swim.” Although other MFL changes are needed, a simple message on this will help set the stage for other revisions.
Council on Forestry Asks Legislators to Consider Timber as an Agricultural Product
Under the Manufacturing and Agriculture Tax Credit enacted into law several years ago, profits gained from the selling of agricultural crops will essentially not be subject to state income taxes. However, timber was excluded as law applies to crops and animals raised on lands that are assessed as agriculture under use value assessment. Surprisingly, Governor Walker’s initial budget proposed that the tax credit eligibility be expanded to include timber. The Council on Forestry voted to send a letter to members of the legislature asking that this change be approved. However, the administration said they made a mistake and did not really want to include this item in the budget. As a result, the Joint Finance Committee agreed and removed this provision from the budget. Read WAFO’s letter to the Joint Finance Committee regarding the Manufacturing & Agriculture Tax Credit.
WAFO Challenges Misconceptions About the “Huge” Tax Break MFL Provides Private Woodland Owners
In The Country Today, a news magazine that has a focus on rural issues, there has been extensive dialogue and articles about the Managed Forest Law and other woodland issues. In a recent issue, the Town of Dover Treasurer wrote about how the MFL drives up the taxes other landowners must pay. Given this is a common misconception, WAFO has made it a priority to respond whenever articles like this appear. See our letter of response and keep us informed of other opportunities to which we can provide response.
WAFO Membership is Free – Please Help Spread the Word
Part of WAFO’s business plan is to link forest landowners with their state legislators. We are currently setting up a structure which would allow us to let landowners know what “their” legislators are doing. For example, if we had had the ability to inform those landowners who lived in, or had woodland in, areas represented by Representative John Nygren or Senator Alberta Darling (Co-Chairs of Joint Finance) we could have seen the leasing ban repealed as part of the budget bill.
Did you know that there are several HUNDRED landowners who are enrolled in the MFL in just these two legislator’s districts? If it takes only a handful of contacts be made to them on an issue like this, you can see the potential we have to make a difference.
Membership in WAFO is FREE. Let every other woodland owner you know that by simply providing an email address and information on where their woodland is located, they’ll become a member. Not only will they be able to affect needed law and regulation changes by being able to speak as one, they also will have access to more detailed tips and information that will help them reduce their tax burden today.
How will WAFO exist without financial support? The simple answer is it wouldn’t. However we’ve already received enough financial support to get us to this point. Occasionally we’ll ask members if they’d like to provide a donation or contribute to our Conduit so that we can target campaign donations to those who support our policy priorities.
If you haven’t already, please consider making a donation. Charter members, those who have contribute $500 or more, receive a preliminary analysis on how their land should be, or could be, classified by their assessor to receive a lower tax rate. Several WAFO members have already seen their property tax bills reduced by several thousand dollars. .
Another option we’ve make available is a Business Associate Category, in which our industry partners may use to provide a link to their products or services.