SCOTTSBURG, Ind. (WDRB) —Rising property taxes are adding new pressure for Indiana farmers, with one owner saying the increases could force his family off land they've owned for more than 200 years.

Dan Smith is a lifelong resident of Scottsburg, Indiana, and he runs a farm that has been in his family since 1817. Although Smith has struggled recently with the rising diesel prices for his tractors and the increased cost of farming equipment, he said the property taxes in Indiana could be the reason he loses his land for good.

"When you take average ground and run it up three times what it's worth, what kind of burden does that put on people that are trying to farm and compete with that?" Smith said.

Property taxes are calculated using several factors, including a base rate per acre, the local tax rate property assessment values, a two percent farmland cap and a few other factors. Smith said his property taxes doubled in the last few years.

"That can push you out," he said.

While local tax rates in Scott County remained stable and even decreased in recent years, a farmer’s tax bill can still rise if the assessed value of their land increases.

Indiana also caps farmland property taxes at 2% of a property's gross assessed value, meaning the higher the land is valued, the higher the maximum tax bill can be.

"If his tax is going up, that's just because the assessor is assessing it at a higher rate even if his taxes are going down," said Scottsburg Mayor Terry Amick.

Scott County assessor Diana Cozart did confirm that Smith's property assessment value went up $3,000 from 2024 to 2025 and increased by $30,000 from 2023 to 2024. However, she did not indicate why.

That increase, Smith said, is exactly the kind of financial pressure he worries could make it harder for farmers like him to hold onto their land.

Smith is convinced that his farmland is being assessed at higher values because there's a new large housing development that neighbors his property.

Amick insisted that the housing development is part of the city and Smith's farm is in the county, saying that the development has nothing to do with Smith's rising cost.

Without an answer from Cozart, it's unclear what would make Smith's property assessment value spike so high. 

"Farmers, they've got the whole world right in their hands because they produce what you want to eat," Smith said. "Could you do without farmers?"

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