A report on Fox5 Wednesday tees up local rock stars Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi and Max Weinberg for “the huge tax breaks” they get for claiming parts of their estates in Colts Neck and Middletown as farmland.
According to Fox reporter Barbara Nevins Taylor, Bon Jovi’s Navesink River estate in Middletown, on which he pays $296,000 a year in local property taxes, is cited for paying just $104 on 6.85 acres used to raise honeybees.
Springsteen pays more than $138,000 a year in taxes on his three-acre Colts Neck home, but just $4,639 on the adjoining 200 acres, which is organically farmed and has horses, according to the report.
E Street Band drummer Weinberg pays $49,000 on his two-acre residence on McClees Road in Middletown, but just just $122 on the additional 34 acres “because he sells wood,” says Nevins Taylor.
A lawyer for the trust that owns Springsteen’s spread had no comment, Nevins Taylor reports. Bon Jovi, through a spokesman, said the beekeeping operation was in place on his before he bought it.
State Senator Jennifer Beck of Red Bank appears in the segment, calling the state law that requires owners of properties as small as five acres to sell just $500 worth of agricultural products in order to qualify for the exemption “a very low bar.
“I think it is unfair to our other property taxpayers that if you are a fake farmer, and that you don’t legitimately farm, that you are getting a property tax break and forcing your neighbors to pick up your tab,” Beck says. “That was not the intent of the law. It’s a violation of the public trust.”
Beck has taken on the tax break before, most notably in her 2007 campaign for state Senate, when she challenged her opponent, Ellen Karcher, for benefitting from it.
Also interviewed is Middletown Administrator Tony Mercantante, who suggests the law, while it “has enabled farmers to survive,” needs fine-tuning.
Fact is Bruce Springsteen has an Organic Farm on his property with 75 acres under cultivation, so that would be a farm
they are farms not just bee hives and a mansion
Judy stanley did the same thing and the Bordens/Leonards in Rumson did it for years with a flock of SHEEP (to the delight of many a child and local pervs)
Farm tax breaks should be for people whose livelihood is farming – period. This is a joke, just a “let them eat cake” tax law that passes their share to the rest of us.
Why should we subsidize them? Let’s subsidize a true farmer, not rich people who use it to avoid paying for their luxury spreads.
And Governor Chris Christie does not have it on his reformation list? Not surprised, he’s not going to go after the rich.
Springsteen has an organic farm i think they grow hay for animals (organicly)some of the land is kept for wild life like a little park and we dont pay the workers.the short guy i have no idea
Some people just don’t understand .Farm preservation is saving open spaces at little expence to the taxpayer .Would you rather see 500 tract housing on the land or perhaps 2000+ low income condo’s ? The real crime is why anybody should be paying 296K in taxes !But that is lost on most of you …
If giving a tax break to properties with limited farming keeps open space in NJ then I feel it is preferable to urban sprawl.
Bruce’s farm is a real farm, over the summer while at Basil T’s when I was finished with salad special I ordered and told the waitress how good it was she let me know that the tomatoes were organically grown on his farm…and they were delicious!
I don’t care how “rich” you are…I really think there is something terribly wrong for anybody to pay 296000 a year in damn taxes…I pay too much..its like getting to be like a car or mortgage payment…something is bacwards and WRONG…Im all for smaller government and less taxes. oh and Im all for a flat tax. no more irs.
So these “rock stars” get tax break on a portion of the land they own. Hell, if you could even afford to just PURCHASE the land, you’d be doing the same thing too. Sell firewood, honey, tomatoes or flowers ~ whatever! Keep it open & keep it GREEN! New Jersey needs more strip malls, McMansions & Home Depots like the Middle East needs another “revolution”~
OH…. this is out east…figures. WE ARE real farmers and are still considered SMALL farmers where we live in ND as we till farm only 2000 or so acres. Soy Beans , Wheat, Navy’s , sometimes corn.
With that said, I was almost horrified when I first started watching this but as it progressed I think it is fair enough the way it is BUT…WHY …do land taxes for OWNERS exist in the first place and then WHY are the taxes so high for the common miniscule land owner?
It pains me deeply the so-called government feels they must tax every aspect of our lives! They are TAKING money from us ALL in some form or another and BLOWING it and we are letting them!
FYI..if your a REAL farmer, you KNOW the overhead costs….it boggles the mind!