Farmers: Tax extenders help now, permanent solution needed

The U.S. Senate is expected to move forward with legislation that cleared the House of Representatives last week for retroactive tax extenders.

The bill includes Section 179 small business expensing and bonus depreciation that will help U.S. farmers and ranchers this year.

“The tax code helps farmers and ranchers make the investments they need for equipment to run their businesses,” said Pat Wolff, tax specialist for the American Farm Bureau Federation. “Any new or used piece of equipment or other business expense that a farmer made during the year will be tax-deductible, assuming this bill gets the whole way to the president. Last week farmers had no idea whether or not they were going to be able to take this tax credit, and now there’s about 90 percent certainty that they’re going to be in place.”

For next year and beyond, however, the nation’s farmers still need some certainty regarding tax credits so they can plan for the future, Wolff said.

“When the New Year starts, those tax deductions will go away, and farmers won’t know what will be available for 2015. We need long-term certainty; we need Congress to stop passing tax laws a year at a time and put these provisions in the tax code permanently.”

AFBF President Bob Stallman concurred. “We are glad to have these temporary extensions, but we know these issues will come up again.”