Connecticut Nearly Taxed Its Family Farms Out of Existence

The farmland protection law that almost did the opposite — and why the danger isn’t over

For decades, Connecticut told its farmers a simple story:

If you keep farming the land, the state will protect you from being taxed off of it.

That promise was embedded in PA 490, the state’s farmland, forest, and open-space assessment program. It was designed to shield working land from speculative development pressure by taxing it based on use, not on what a developer might someday pay for it.

In 2025, that promise nearly collapsed.