Wisconsin Agricultural Lands Tax Amendment, Question 3 (April 1974)

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The Wisconsin Agricultural Lands Tax Amendment was a legislatively-referred constitutional amendment on the April 2, 1974 ballot in Wisconsin, where it was approved.

• This amendment modified Article VIII, Section 1 of the Wisconsin Constitution to allow the legislature to define an agricultural and undeveloped land class with separate taxation levels from regular property.

Election results

Question 3
Result		Votes	Percentage
a Yes		353,377	50.93%
No		340,518	49.07%

Official results via: The Wisconsin Blue Book 1975

Text of measure

The language that appeared on the ballot:

"Shall section 1 of Article VIII of the Wisconsin constitution be amended to permit the legislature to define agricultural land and undeveloped land and to allow that the taxation of such classes of land need not be uniform with one another nor with the taxation of other real property?"

Constitutional changes

(Article VIII) Section 1. The rule of taxation shall be uniform but the legislature may empower cities, villages or towns to collect and return taxes on real estate located therein by optional methods. Taxes shall be levied upon such property with such classifications as to forests and minerals including or separate or severed from the land, as the legislature shall prescribe. Taxation of agricultural land and undeveloped land, both as defined by law, need not be uniform with the taxation of each other nor with the taxation of other real property. Taxation of merchants' stock-in-trade, manufacturers' materials and finished products, and livestock need not be uniform with the taxation of real property and other personal property, but the taxation of all such merchants' stock-in-trade, manufacturers' materials and finished products and livestock shall be uniform, except that the legislature may provide that the value thereof shall be determined on an average basis. Taxes may also be imposed on incomes, privileges and occupations, which taxes may be graduated and progressive, and reasonable exemptions may be provided.

Path to the ballot

• First Legislative Approval: AJR 1 & JR 39 (1971)
• Second Legislative Approval: AJR 1 & JR 29 (1973)

See also

Suggest a link

• 1974 ballot measures
• Wisconsin 1974 ballot measures
• List of Wisconsin ballot measures

External links

• The Wisconsin Blue Book 1975
• "Dane County Facsimile Ballot - April 2, 1975" Wisconsin State Journal, March 25, 1974