In 1973, a Virginia statute providing for special assessment of agricultural, horticultural, forest, and open-space lands went into effect. The purpose of this statute was to slow the conversion of agricultural lands to non-agricultural uses and to provide tax equity for farmers. Four localities approved use-value assessment ordinances for 1973; by 1976, twenty-two localities had approved use-value assessment ordinances. This rising participation in the land-use taxation program accompanies a rise in the costs of the program. Tax revenues foregone due to special assessment have significant impacts on the local tax bases. Since participation and costs are already significant, and likely to increase, evaluation of the program is warranted.

The objectives of this thesis are to explain the process of administering use-value taxation, to determine the practices currently employed in administering use-value taxation at the local level, and to identify those applications of the law that deviate from the legislative intent. A model of the decision process at the local level is utilized in meeting with this first objective. This model depicts the flow of information to the local decision-maker, and incorporates the influences affecting the decision, based on the theory of William Niskanen and Herbert Simon. In meeting with the second objective, a survey was conducted with the cooperation of the Commissioners of the Revenue, Real Estate Assessors, and Treasurers of the localities having use-value taxation in effect for 1976. The third objective, the identification of applications of the law which deviate from the legislative intent, involved the use of the decision model to identify potential misapplications of the law, and the analysis of the survey data to identify existing misapplications.

In conclusion, the analysis suggests that participation in the program and costs of administering the program are substantial and increasing, and misapplications of the law are known to occur. In consideration of these conclusions, further research is justifiable in determining the relation of use-value taxation with other land-use controls, and in obtaining more information about the use-value taxation program within given localities.