Sen. Martin Pushes to Prevent Massive Tax Hikes on CT Farmers  

Farmers from across the state attended a Jan. 20 forum hosted by Connecticut Senate Republicans and Senate Republican Leader Pro Tem Henri Martin (R-Bristol) to address massive tax increases that have threatened to put agricultural businesses out of operation.

“The voices of farmers across our district and state were largely left out of the land revaluation process. Senate and House Republicans made sure that the farmers were heard through this forum. This tax hike would put so many farmers, including family-run farms, out of business. The ripple effects would affect everyone in some way. Senate Republicans and I are pushing for a lasting solution that fixes the process of how the state determined these drastic increases,” said Senator Martin.

Ahead of the Republicans’ forum, Gov. Ned Lamont called for a halt to the tax hikes and a reinstatement of previous land values. Republicans and farmers called that a positive step, but noted more must done to address the methodology that was used by state government to bring about those outrageous and unjustified increases.

A newly created online petition – www.SaveCTLand.org – already has 20,700 signatures. 

Senator Martin and Republicans said that work has just begun to start fixing this huge farmland tax spike problem.

“This should be a bipartisan issue. The Republican caucus will do whatever work is needed to implement the changes needed to provide our area’s farmers with predictability and fairness related to how their land is assessed. I encourage everyone who has not yet signed the petition to do so. Republicans will soon be holding public meetings across Connecticut on this issue,” he said.