rent-a-cow

attrib. indicating a situation in which livestock are deceitfully used to make a residential or commercial property qualify as a working farm or ranch in order to benefit from an agricultural tax provision or subsidy. Subjects: English, Agriculture, Animals, Insects, & Birds, Money & Finance, Slang

Editorial Note: There are literal rent-a-cow operations, from which one can lease cattle for a variety of legitimate purposes, but the use here is largely figurative.

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Citations: 1989 Jana Bommersbach Phoenix New Times (Arizona) (Apr. 19) “Charles Keating: What A Political Animas” p. 18: Just last week, Governor Rose Mofford signed a bill aimed at stopping developers like Keating from using a “rent a cow” tax dodge. 1991 Arizona Daily Star (Oct. 7) “Assessing the assessor After crusading for equity, the tax man goeth” p. 12A: He was among the first to decry dastardly rent-a-cow schemes, which allow land speculators to get millions of dollars of tax breaks intended for legitimate farmers and ranchers. 1992 Mary K. Reinhart @ Phoenix Arizona Daily Star (Tucson) (July 21) “Pima sues to recoup ‘rent-a-cow’ tax breaks”: The suit alleges that the investors have taken advantage of the so-called “rent-a-cow” provision that allows tax breaks on property used for agriculture or grazing. 1998 Albuquerque Journal (New Mexico) (Jan. 6) “King, Other Ranchers Losing Tax Break on Range Lands” p. 5: Publicity about the Kings’ small bill and allegations that some developers were abusing the system by running “rent-a-cow” operations drove the county to take a closer look at 2,000 properties receiving the tax break. 2007 Patrick Whittle Herald Tribune (Sarasota, Florida) (Feb. 11) “Tax break is a cash cow”: Deviating from one of those criteria should be enough to lose the tax break, says Steven Geller, state Senate Democrat leader who last year accused developers of calling “Hertz rent-a-cow” to acquire the tax break. 2007 Joel Stonington Aspen Times (Colorado) (Sept. 13) “Lawsuit challenges county appraisal”: Fite, however, stopped short of likening the case to those seen with “rent-a-cow ranchers,” a term used to describe owners of luxury homes who keep a small number of animals or cut hay on a corner of large parcels to take advantage of low commercial agriculture taxes.

Posted 14 Sep 07 | Permalink | Tell a Friend

Reader comments:

Would it be possible to modify the word “deceitfully” ? Your examples do not provide cases of deception, but merely people who read the laws and implemented procedures to comply with them and recieve tax breaks. While the authors of the law may not have intended it apply to Fidelity Investments Texas campus, Fidelity is not trying to decieve people into believing it is cattle ranch and not a financial services firm. There is a significance differnce between saying “this is a working farm” and “the lower corner is mowed for hay to qualify for the Ag tax rate”, in the former there is an attempt to decieve in the latter there is no such attempt.

by Comment 28 Sep 07, 0546 GMT