by Benjamin Yount
Land continues to get more valuable in Wisconsin.
The state’s Department of Revenue released its latest Equalized Values Report, showing the total value of all the land in the state $907 billion, an increase of $75 billion from last year.
“The value is needed for each taxation district, which includes every town, village and city plus those portions that are located in an adjacent county,’ the DOR states in the report. “The detail in the local assessment roll, showing the assessed value of land, improvements and their total, for eight classes of real property and four classes of personal property, is also the breakdown required of the Equalized Values.”
Residential land continues to be the most valuable, worth more than $667 billion, followed by Wisconsin’s commercial properties at $180 billion.
However, farmland and forest land saw the biggest jumps in value. Both went up 11% last year.
Oconto County saw the largest increase in land values at 16%, followed by Lafayette and Pepin both at 14%.
“Equalized values are calculated annually and used to ensure statewide fairness and equity in property tax distribution. The equalized value represents an estimate of a taxation district’s total taxable value and provides for the fair apportionment of school district and county levies to each municipality,” the report states. “Changes in equalized value do not necessarily translate into a change in property taxes.”
The report also shows a nearly $11 billion drop in some property values as part of the personal property exemption that is included in Wisconsin’s new shared revenue law.
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Benjamin Yount is a contributor to The Center Square.
Photo “Wisconsin Dairy Farm” by Wikideas1.
