Use-Value Assessment of Rural Land in the United States

This work explains and analyzes critical questions raised by the use-value assessment (UVA) policy for farmland preservation. It covers the origins, key features, impacts, and flaws of UVA programs across the United States and recommends policy reforms to make the programs fair and more effective. A comprehensive appendix details the characteristics of UVA programs in all 50 states.

This book is also the basis for a Policy Focus Report published in 2015.

About the Authors

John E. Anderson is the Baird family professor of economics at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln College of Business. He has advised government agencies in the United States and around the world, including the president’s Council of Economic Advisers in Washington, DC, from 2005 to 2006. He was a visiting fellow at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.

Richard W. England is professor of economics at the University of New Hampshire–Durham. His research and public speaking focus on property taxation, land development, conservation, and housing markets. Together with Richard F. Dye, he edited Land Value Taxation: Theory, Evidence, and Practice (2009). He was a visiting fellow at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.