The Scottish Government has published proposals on a series of radical land reforms.
It wants to legislate on a number of measures aimed at achieving “a fairer and more equitable distribution of land in Scotland”.
The Land Reform (Scotland) Bill will end business rates exemptions for shooting and deerstalking estates, give communities a right to buy land to further sustainable development and make information on who owns land and its value more readily available.
Land reform minister Aileen McLeod said the Bill is a “significant step forward” in ensuring land is used in the public interest.
Business rates exemptions for shooting and deerstalking estates were brought in by the Conservatives in 1994.
The money raised from ending the exemptions will be used to help fund community buyouts, with a target of having one million acres of land in community ownership by 2020.
Landowners say the scrapping of the exemptions could threaten the viability of some sporting estates, while the policy does not take into account the current voluntary payments made for river and deer management.
Scottish Gamekeepers Association chairman Alex Hogg said: “We know what we do benefits Scotland’s countryside, its wildlife and communities and we know the integral part we play, in the public interest.
“As we have said all along, the Scottish Gamekeepers Association’s objective is to try to protect, as best as we can, the jobs of rural workers and their families and this remains the goal.
“Good can come from land reform, but we must ensure that working people are not caught in the crosshairs of the negatives and we will continue to engage with Scottish Government on how the new ratings systems will work, with a view to preserving fragile employment.”