Ag Policy Blog
Farm Groups Want Tax Extender Legislation in Lame Duck
Now that the election bloodbath is over, will Congress be able to cobble together a tax-extenders bill in a lame-duck session?
Farm groups are starting to raise the issue with several key tax provisions that expired at the beginning of 2014 still waiting to be acted upon.
The Senate Finance Committee took up the Expiring Provisions Improvement Reform And Efficiency Act, or EXPIRE Act, last spring.
A big one is the Section 179 deduction. It's still in place for 2014, but the deduction right now is capped at $25,000, compared to $500,000 in 2013. EXPIRE would raise the Section 179 deductions for 2014 and 2015 back to a $500,000 maximum and be allowed for any business with less than $2 million in property put into service. The deduction phases out dollar for dollar for all equipment value purchased above $2 million.
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The Senate bill also would extend 50% bonus depreciation for until January 2016.
Jerry Hagstrom, DTN's political correspondent, reported that tax-extenders was an important issue raised by American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman in a meeting with Washington, D.C., reporters on Tuesday.
"Stallman said the most important of the breaks are the Section 179 small business expenses and bonus depreciation, but Farm Bureau released a long list of other tax breaks that would be contained in a bill that members of Congress refer to as tax extenders, since these measures have been in law before but have expired," Hagstrom wrote.
The National Farmers Union also issued a news release on Wednesday calling on Congress to renew and extend tax breaks during the lame-duck session.
"NFU will strongly pursue the extension of expiring tax provisions for small business expensing and renewable energy during the upcoming lame-duck session of congress,” said NFU President Roger Johnson. “Family farmers and ranchers rely on these provisions that are critical to managing their business.”
On Tuesday, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen urged Congress to not only approve tax-extenders legislation, but do it immediately so his agency and tax preparers have time to get ready for the 2015 filing season.
The EXPIRE bill did not extend the wind Production Tax Credit, but it did include provisions for biofuels, including an extension of the $1.01 per gallon Cellulosic Biofuels Producer Tax Credit through 2015. It also would extend the $1 a gallon Biodiesel tax credit as well as the 10-cent a gallon agri-biodiesel producer tax credit.
Total package of cuts under EXPIRE would cost an average of $85 billion over 10 years.
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