Panel Urges Change in Farm Property Tax

     PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - A legislative task force has recommended a
change in South Dakota's new system for determining the value of
agricultural land for property tax purposes.
     The panel will ask the South Dakota Legislature to relax a cap
on annual increases in taxable values. That would speed up
increases in the taxable value of some land.
     Property taxes used to be based on the selling prices of
comparable farm land, but that system was scrapped because there
were not enough sales to set a valid market price.
     Under the system put in place two years ago, the taxable value
of pasture land is based on average cash rent over an eight-year
period. The taxable value of cropland is calculated according to
income based on an eight-year average of yield and crop prices.