A N OA K WO O D J U N I O R High School teacher has been named the 2011 Illinois Agriculture in the Classroom (IAITC) teacher of the year. .......................................3
THE U.S. EPA is “not backing down” from efforts to target g reenhouse g as emissions, according to a Farm Bureau analyst. ............................... ................5
OSHA HAS HAD a bad reputation of coming in with a “hammer,” but is now trying to emphasize safety and health through cooperative programs. ..................7
Monday, December 20, 2010
Two sections Volume 38, No. 50
At long last, estate tax, ethanol battle over — for now FB supported exemption, rate prevail BY MARTIN ROSS FarmWeek
Periodicals: Time Valued
Congress provided an 11th-hour reprieve for farm families and biofuels produc-
ers as the House came through with a compromise tax-spending package signed by the president Friday. After leaving producers and small businesses in limbo for more than a year, House lawmakers approved, 277148, a new, Farm Bureausupported $5 million estate tax exemption with a reduced 35 percent rate, for the next two years. And despite heavy Democrat rumblings, lawmakers extended the ethanol excise blenders tax credit for one year at its current 45-centper-gallon rate and resurrected the expired $1-per-gallon biodiesel blenders credit through 2011 and on a retroactive basis for 2010. The bill also includes continuation of personal income tax rates at their current levels and a top 15 percent capital gains rate, and offers a one-year Social Security tax cut. Because the House left the Senate-authored package intact, it moved directly to the president’s desk for signature.
American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman hailed President Obama and congressional leaders for crafting the tax benefits extension plan and “being committed to secur-
FarmWeekNow.com Listen to Sara Wyant’s comments about the just-passed tax package at FarmWeek Now.com.
ing passage.” It “offers considerable relief that will help farmers, ranchers, and rural communities in these difficult economic times,” he said. Americans faced Dec. 31 expiration of Bush-era tax cuts, the return of the estate tax with a low $1 million exemption and a 55 percent rate. Capital gains rates would have risen to a pre2002 20 percent. “The tax package is very significant for Farm Bureau; it addressed a number of priorities on which Illinois Farm Bureau has been working throughout the 111th Congress,” said IFB President
FarmWeek on the web: FarmWeekNow.com
Philip Nelson. University of Illinois Extension ag tax specialist Gary Hoff noted the measure restores the option of a “step-up in basis” for farm estates. This year, producers have operated solely on a “carryover basis,” with estates valued for future sale potentially at prices decedents originally paid. In many farming operations, “that could go back three or four generations, when you had an extremely low basis on real estate,” Hoff told FarmWeek. The Senate had voted 8315 Dec. 13 to end debate on the tax compromise, and passed the measure the next day. In response to an IFB action request, more than 600 grassroots contacts were made to Sens. Dick Durbin, a Springfield Democrat, and Mark Kirk, a Highland Park Republican, both of whom supported the bill. IFB mounted a second campaign to lobby Illinois’
House members for bill passage. The biodiesel industry had sustained significant downsizing and some closures as a result of the biodiesel credit expiration. The tax bill includes an expedited claims process that should enable fuel suppliers and distributors to quickly take credits on biodiesel purchased over the past year. “We’re working to make this as easy as possible for them,” National Biodiesel Board spokesman Kaleb Little told FarmWeek Friday. “There were some (plant) shutdowns, but from what we’ve heard from some of our members, they will be See Battle, page 4
No FarmWeek next week There will be no FarmWeek published next week. FarmWeek is published 50 times a year, with no issues on the Mondays following Thanksgiving and Christmas. The next issue you receive will be dated Jan. 3, 2011.
Illinois Farm Bureau®on the web: www.ilfb.org