Tax Breaks To Replace Lawns

As cities around the country look for creative ways to reduce pollutions and save water, the first legislation to give individual homeowners a tax break for replacing their lawns arrives. It is an incentive to help clean up Barnegat Bay, New Jersey, and it proposes an annual $250 state income tax credit for people who replace grass lawns with stone or crushed shell in bayside neighborhoods.

Getting people to rip out their lawns within 1,000 feet of the bay shore or the bay's tributaries will reduce pollution from fertilizers and lawn care chemicals, says Assemblyman James W. Holzapfel, R-Ocean, who introduced bill A-3750.

''The harmful effects of lawn fertilizers are devastating the Barnegat Bay, and we must explore all the ways that residents can reduce the pollution, while receiving tax incentives to make a change to their property,'' Holzapfel said. The recurring $250 tax credit on gross income could also be claimed by people who already use stone or shell mulch as landscaping.