Put some trees on that land and claim an agriculture farming discount. It’s how the politicians do it
Agricultural exemptions are not hard to get (OH) you need to produce an Ag product that creates at least $3000 income and fill out the paperwork.
We realized very quickly that the property taxes were going to chew up our retirement income unless we grew a crop or raised some livestock in order to get an agricultural exemption on those taxes from the county.
So in our mid-60s and with no experience, we went into the cattle business and now have a smooth running beef cattle operation that not only exempts us from most of our land taxes but selling the calves each year more than pays for the high taxes on our home, which is not exempt.
While we were at it, we designated an acre of land as our family cemetery, which reduced the property taxes to zero.
On top of the fact that Florida has not state income tax, we run our startup cattle operation at a loss, which reduces our federal AGI to the point where we owe little to no federal income taxes.
Now instead of barely getting by on our retirement income, after the initial expenses of building barns, installing fences, laying water lines for stock tanks and buying tractors and other equipment to run the cattle operation, we are now living very comfortably and have paid off our home, cars and debts and are still able to put money into savings and investments every month.
We live more comfortably now and are more financially stable than we were when we were running the rat race trying to make a living and paying the bills during our working careers in the big city. Who woulda' thunk?