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AFBF pleased, NFU alarmed by House tax bill passage

The House tax reform plan has passed on a mostly party-line vote – with praise from the president of the American Farm Bureau Federation and criticism from National Farmers Union. Thirteen Republicans voted with Democrats to oppose the bill.

In a statement, AFBF president Zippy Duvall said lower rates combined with keeping small business expensing are some of the things the bill does to support farmers and ranchers and they’re looking forward to the Senate version building on those.

Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue has told Brownfield in Kansas City last week that the bill would NOT raise taxes for farmers, “Farmers pay individual and small business taxes and they’re going to pay less and that’s just a fact. I don’t know why – The 199 on co-ops, that’s a special type of – they’re going to be tax, special tax credits that are, are changed.”

But, the head of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives says the “199 deduction” will be eliminated and its loss will hurt all farmers and ranchers.

Rob Larew, National Farmers Union vice president of policy, said in a statement that NFU is “alarmed” by the House bill’s passage, which he says raises the tax burden on family farmers and the middle class while adding 1-and-a-half Trillion dollars to the national deficit. He says it also jeopardizes vital farm safety net funding and passage of the 2018 Farm Bill. He urged the Senate to change course on its tax reform bill which is similar to the House bill for agriculture.