A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to modify the classes of property excluded from the tax base.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 105‑275 reads as rewritten:
"§ 105‑275.  Property classified and excluded from the tax base.
The following classes of property are hereby designated special classes under authority of Article V, Sec. 2(2), of the North Carolina Constitution and shall not be listed, appraised, assessed, or taxed:
…
(12)	Real property owned by a nonprofit corporation or association primarily held and used for educational, scientific, recreational, or ecological purposes as a protected natural area. (For purposes of this subdivision, the term "protected natural area" means a nature reserve or park in which wild nature, flora and fauna, and biotic communities are preserved for observation, recreation, and study.)"
SECTION 2.  G.S. 105‑275 is amended by adding a new subdivision to read:
"§ 105‑275.  Property classified and excluded from the tax base.
The following classes of property are hereby designated special classes under authority of Article V, Sec. 2(2), of the North Carolina Constitution and shall not be listed, appraised, assessed, or taxed:
…
(29b)	Real property and easements wholly and exclusively held and used for nonprofit land conservation purposes by a nonprofit land trust or other organization authorized to hold conservation agreements as defined in G.S. 121-35(1), including the following:
a.	Real property owned by a nonprofit corporation organized for land conservation purposes and held by its owner exclusively for sale under a conservation agreement prepared and recorded under the provisions of the Conservation and Historic Preservation Agreements Act, Article 4, Chapter 121 of the General Statutes.
b.	Real property held by a nonprofit land conservation organization for future sale or transfer to a local, state, or federal government unit for conservation purposes. Property may be classified under this sub‑subdivision for no more than five years. The taxes that would otherwise be due on land classified under this sub‑subdivision shall be a lien on the real property of the taxpayer as provided in G.S. 105‑355(a). The taxes shall be carried forward in the records of the taxing unit or units as deferred taxes and shall be payable five years from the fiscal year the exclusion is first claimed unless the real property is sold or transferred to a local, state, or federal government unit for conservation purposes during that time. If the real property is not sold or transferred to a local, state, or federal government unit for conservation purposes within five years, then deferred taxes for the preceding five fiscal years shall immediately be payable, together with interest as provided in G.S. 105‑360 for unpaid taxes that shall accrue on the deferred taxes as if they had been payable on the dates on which they would originally become due. All liens arising under this sub‑subdivision are extinguished upon either the payment of any deferred taxes under this sub‑subdivision or upon the sale or transfer of the real property to a local, state, or federal government unit for conservation purposes within the five‑year period allowed under this sub‑subdivision."
SECTION 3.  This act is effective for taxes imposed for taxable years beginning on or after July 1, 2008.