LAST UPDATED: May 8th, 2015
Big Brother is watching all hunters!
Minnesota hunter, Jeff Hardy, is your typical northwoods rifle hunter. On the 40 acres he hunts in this state’s Morrison County, he has one of those small mobile homes up in a tree he calls a ‘stand’. It’s about 8×16 feet, and complete with vinyl siding. Cause let’s face it, you have to protect your wood… right?
When Hardy first constructed this treetstand, he needed no permits because no planning and zoning ordinances were violated. That was then, welcome to the world according to the democrats Mr. Hardy. Enjoy!
The county tax office now wants him to pay taxes on his treestand! Claiming because it’s more elaborate than a typical treestand, they can do it too. It’s not a lot of dough, roughly about $40 per year.
When any county figures property taxes, it attempts to value items based on how they would sell in a fair marketplace. “The bottom line is whether they contribute value to the property”, Morrison county tax assessor Gale Zimmerman said.
“There isn’t anything that says deer stands are exempt from being taxed,” Zimmerman continued. “But they don’t necessarily add value. I have seen a number of deer stands and they are usually just used for deer stands and they are really not suitable for anything else.”
So let the readers here at Bowhunting.Com try and understand this one. The county assesses taxes based off how valuable they believe an item is, and yet the tax assessor so clearly states items don’t necessarily have to add value. So we’re all wondering why he’s being taxed then? In fact, we think the Morrison county tax assessor should likely credit Mr. Hardy. After all, someday he’ll have to sell that property and pay someone to cut the monstrosity down!
The staff here at Bowhunting.Com would like to extend a huge congratulations to the Morrison County Tax offices on making us all look better as employees. If our beloved owner knew we were wasting this much time over $40 a year he’d likely fire us all. We’re sure the taxpaying citizens who elect you are grateful in your attempts to collect these invaluable monies. Morrison County, Minnesota, tax officials, we salute you!
