Property Tax Relief for Landowners

Planning · Free to qualifying landowners, from California State Board of Equalization

The Williamson Act lowers assessment on farm and ranch land under agricultural or open space contract. The Mills Act serves historic properties. The Disabled Veterans and Homeowners exemptions, and the State Controller's Property Tax Postponement programme for senior, disabled or blind owners, round out the set. Details vary by county assessor.

The Williamson Act is a bargain with your county, not a form you file once. You agree to keep specific parcels in agricultural or related open space use, the shortest contract runs ten years, and in return the assessment drops. What changes is the basis of the valuation: the land is assessed on the income it generates rather than on what somebody might pay for it, which is why the saving is largest where development pressure has pushed market value furthest above farming value. Where this comes from

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