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House Ways and Means Chairman wants tax certainty for farmers and ranchers

The Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee says Congress is finalizing the President’s “one big, beautiful bill”. Congressman Jason Smith of Missouri says, “We’re going to deliver a pro-growth, pro-jobs, pro-worker, pro-farmer, and pro-small business tax bill.”

He tells Brownfield that if signed into law, it would make permanent the expiring provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and provide much-needed certainty for America’s farmers and ranchers. “There are 26,000,000 farms and small businesses that right now don’t know if their tax rate is going to be 23 to 28 percent or 43 to 44 percent,” he says.

If the tax cuts aren’t made permanent, he says Americans will face a 22 percent tax increase.

The current reconciliation bill also includes increased spending, mandatory spending cuts, cuts to programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and an increase to the Debt Limit.

The House Ag Committee is scheduled to debate its portion of the reconciliation bill on Tuesday, leaving Wednesday for amendments.  The Committees on Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce will also debate their respective spending packages on Tuesday, which would give Congress very little time to make changes to the overall package. 

Earlier this week House Ag Committee Chairman Glenn GT Thompson told farm broadcasters he’s hoping to include a “down payment” on the farm bill in the reconciliation package, leaving a pared down version of it to pass later.

AUDIO: Meghan Grebner interviews Missouri Congressman Jason Smith