DULUTH, Minn. - That cabin in the northern Minnesota woods could be getting a lot more expensive for Minnesotans who lease the land under it from the government.
The state Revenue Department is pushing a policy that would change the way those cabins are taxed. St. Louis County lease holders got notices in the past few days.
The change requires county assessors to tax cabin owners both for the value of the structure and the land included in the lease, even though they don't own the land.
Until now, in St. Louis and a few other northern counties, cabin owners on leased government land paid property tax only on the value of the structure.
St. Louis County Assessor Mel Hintz (HIGH-ntz) says taxes will rise by $50 a year for a small deer shack to more than $2,000 a year on a lakefront cabin.
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Revenue Department officials say the tax rule has been on the books since 1958 and that a few counties have misinterpreted that rule for years.
Hintz says the change could effect more than 2,000 leaseholders in St. Louis, Koochiching, Lake and Carlton counties.
