by dissimulo » Tue 05 Jun 2007, 19:37:44
In most of the US, this is how property assessments are already done.
It is not a tax on gardens - it is valuation of the property based on the whole picture - including the yard.
So, if you have a garden, but you make sure it looks like hell (which is not hard to do) it probably won't increase your assessed value. Just stick compost piles here and there, buckets full of dead weeds, piles of corn stalks, bean bushes gone to seed, etc.
You can produce food and a godawful mess at the same time.
A rusty, wrecked car with the top cut off, used as a potato planter would add just the perfect touch.
My property is nice inside, but looks like crap from anywhere the assessor can see. There is no reason to volunteer to pay more tax.
With a farewell scream of escaping steam, the boiler bows to the Diesel;
The Iron Horse has run its course and we ride a chromium weasel
-Ogden Nash