Amendment 3 would authorize the legislature to create a new class of property, titled timberland property, for tangible real property used for growing trees for commercial timber. The legislature would develop an ad valorem taxation assessment for timberland property. It would repeal a constitutional requirement that the state legislature use a "formula based on current use, annual productivity, and real property sales data" to calculate the tax on forest land conservation use property.
The amendment would also allow the legislature to pass a law to keep up to 5 percent of an assistance grant's value for the purpose of administering a program created in 2008 to give assistance grants to local governments to help them address lost revenue due to the special assessment of timberland.
A YES vote supports creating a new class of property of timberland and allow the state to keep up to 5 percent of assistance grants for administrative costs.
A NO vote opposed the measure.
Ballot language:
House Resolution No. 51
Resolution Act No. 297
Ga. L. 2018, p. 1127
“Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended so as to revise provisions related to the subclassification for tax purposes of and the prescribed methodology for establishing the value of forest land conservation use property and related assistance grants, to provide that assistance grants related to forest land conservation use property may be increased by general law for a five-year period and that up to 5 percent of assistance grants may be deducted and retained by the state revenue commissioner to provide for certain state administrative costs, and to provide for the subclassification of qualified timberland property for ad valorem taxation purposes?”
