1998 News Archive
HOUSE PASSES TAX PACKAGE TO BENEFIT CATTLE PRODUCERS
WASHINGTON, D.C. (September 28, 1998) – Cattle producers continue to gain ground on tax policy, including prospects for greater death tax relief, full health insurance deduction and permanent income averaging, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) said today.
"The U.S. House has responded to lobbying from cattle producers and has passed some solid tax relief measures that could help improve our economic outlook for 1999," said Len Mertz, NCBA Tax and Credit Committee Chairman and a cattle producer from San Angelo, Texas.
"With only a few legislative days left before this Congress adjourns, NCBA will pull out all the stops to gain support for these tax measures in the Senate and get this bill signed into law," he said. "Grassroots input from cattlemen across the country will be crucial to ensuring that the Senate acts quickly to enact tax relief for producers this year."
The tax bill, approved by the House of Representatives on a 229 to 195 vote, would:
- accelerate the phase-in of the $1-million death tax credit so the full amount is available to family ranchers and farmers by 1999 instead of 2006, which is estimated to save agricultural producers $150 million per year and simplify the estate planning process,
- expedite implementation of the health insurance deduction for the self-employed to 100 percent by 1999 instead of 2007, which is expected to save $382 per person,
- implement a provision that would allow family farmers and ranchers to deduct $25,000 in expenses for tax purposes, which is expected to save $1,700 per family farm and ranch,
- increase the net operating carry back period for farmers and ranchers to five years,
- permanently reinstate income averaging for ranchers and farmers, which would provide total savings of $50 million per year for agricultural producers.
-- NCBA --
Initiated in 1898, NCBA is the marketing organization and trade association for America’s one million cattle farmers and ranchers. With offices in Denver, Chicago and Washington D.C., NCBA is a consumer-focused, producer-directed organization representing the largest segment of the nation’s food and fiber industry.