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NCFC pleased with section 199 replacement in tax bill

The head of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives says he’s grateful to four U.S. Senators for coming up with a provision in the tax reform bill to replace the Section 199 deduction. Chuck Connor said the removal of that deduction – as proposed in both the House and Senate reform bills – would have raised taxes on farmers.

He tells Brownfield Ag News North Dakota Senator John Hoeven led the way on new  provisions that will keep money in the pockets of family farmers, “Farmers will be eligible to have a deduction from their taxes equal to 20% of the gross volume of sales that they have from their farmer co-ops.”

Connor says farmers could even come out better than under Section 199, “This contrasts with the old 199 deduction where the deduction for the farmer was determined, really, at the co-op level and more often than not passed through to the farmer. And, that deduction was 9% under the 199 deduction.”

Connor also praised Senator John Thune of South Dakota and Senate Ag Chairman Pat Roberts of Kansas for helping insure the replacement provisions were added. A vote on the conference committee tax reform plan is expected early this week.