You guys are scaring the heck out of me.
Here in Texas, if you use your land for something like raise livestock, grow crops or are just waiting for the trees to get big enough to harvest, you get your property taxes lowered. I have my land listed as a timber property. One day, I'll harvest some trees off of it and sell them. I will pay a tax on the money I make from the trees, but until them, I get my property tax reduced. For 68 acres and a 1,000 square foot house, I pay under $1,500 a year in property tax.
If I had my excemption under anything other then timber, after five years, I could change it to a wildlife excemption. To qualify for a wildlife excemption, you have to do two things to the land from a list of options. Mowing and clearing some trees would qualify you. It's the geatest thing in the world for anybody except timber landowners. A wildlife property can be used for nature walks, photography or hunting. The list is very broad as to what you can do with the land and keep the tax excemption.
Without a tax excemption, I would pay about three times as much in property tax. There is a formula that they use, and I don't know it off hand. I just know what my bill is because I have to pay it before the end of this month. It's due Dec 31, but you have one month extra to pay it without any penalty.
Eddie