U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue stated in a recent column that, “The unified framework, which the president supports, proposes tax cuts and reforms that will provide relief for the middle class, which is where many family-owned farms find themselves. The framework will reduce tax rates and double the standard deduction, while also making filing taxes more simple and fair. Most Americans will be able to file their tax return on one page. The business reforms will lead to higher productivity, resulting in higher wages. Overall, the typical American family will on average see a $4,000 increase in wages.”
Sec. Perdue added that, “As secretary of agriculture, it’s important to me that the president’s tax reform will help farmers, since most of them file and pay individual tax returns. While we want our farmers to grow our food and fiber, in order to continue that important work, they must also be able to operate their businesses. The current tax code is a burden that strangles investment and smothers growth. Farmers cannot buy seed with money that they must spend on tax attorneys and accountants. They cannot invest in irrigation and new equipment with money they must spend to comply with the millstone of oppressive regulation and high taxes.”
Sec. Perdue noted that, “Two issues related to farming are transportation and trade. Producers must be able to move their products to market before they can ever sell them, either domestically or to foreign consumers.
“In promoting his tax relief agenda to a large group of truckers in Pennsylvania, Trump observed that ‘when the trucks are moving, that means our economy is moving.’ Tax reform is good for truckers and it is good for farmers, too. Trucks rolling down the highways loaded with American farm products, headed to domestic and international customers, are good for the agricultural economy and good for the American economy.
“The unified tax reform framework will also eliminate what is perhaps the most unjust tax ever imposed – the ‘death tax.’ One-third of American farmers are over the age of 65 and the time is coming when their farms will pass to the next generation. The death tax threatens to break up family farms just to pay the tax bill, causing too many people to spend too much money hiring accountants and buying insurance to shield their life’s work from this unfair levy.”
