Release: Tax Reform Designed for Agriculture, Says Noem

Tax Reform Designed for Agriculture, Says Noem

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – While speaking at the South Dakota Farm Bureau Centennial Convention Saturday evening, Rep. Kristi Noem discussed her fight for a tax code that works better for agriculture. Noem serves as one of the only farmers and ranchers on the House Ways and Means Committee, which has primary jurisdiction over tax reform. During the closing debate on tax reform in the House, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady – a Rapid City native and University of South Dakota graduate – called Noem “a champion of family-owned farms and businesses.”

“Our farm has been in the family for more than a century,” said Noem. “The tax reform proposal we’re working on is designed to help farms across South Dakota last a century more.”

Noem continued: “Many South Dakotans have heard my story. After my dad died in a farming accident, we were hit by the Death Tax, which affected our operation for nearly a decade. I’m thrilled the House tax reform bill would finally get rid of this un-American tax.”

Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform stated Noem’s “hard work and persistence has made our progress to date possible and is our greatest asset in the serious fight to kill the Death Tax once and for all.”

The House tax reform proposal includes a full and permanent repeal of the Death Tax, based on Noem’s Death Tax Repeal Act. It also includes key provisions designed to help farmers and ranchers succeed, including lower tax rates, immediate expensing, and provisions related to like-kind exchanges.

South Dakota Farm Bureau President Scott VanderWal, who testified before Noem’s House Ways & Means Committee about tax reform, stated, “This is a tax reform built for farmers, and Rep. Noem was integral in achieving that. From significantly lower tax rates to repealing the Death Tax, the Tax Cut and Jobs Act is more fair and takes a big step toward rewarding rather than punishing hard work and success.”

“It’s not just the Death Tax that disproportionately impacts South Dakota producers,” saidNoem. “Almost any farmer you talk to will tell you that taxes are too high. We’re going to change that. Through tax reform, we significantly lower tax rates and double the standard deduction, which is going to make a significant difference in the tax bill producers receive. But we also allow for interest deductibility. I fought to get immediate expensing included as well, and we were successful in getting other expensing tools that are critical for highly-leveraged industries like agriculture. This is a proposal designed with farmers and ranchers in mind. It’s designed to keep more money in their pockets.”

During the process of helping to draft the House’s tax reform proposal, Noem has met with hundreds of South Dakotans to discuss the plan – both in the state and in her Washington, D.C. office. The House passed their tax reform proposal in mid-November. The Senate continues to debate their version. Once passed, the House and Senate will go to Conference to merge the two documents before both chambers take a final vote and put the legislation on the president’s desk.

5 thoughts on “Release: Tax Reform Designed for Agriculture, Says Noem”

  1. Hey, Kristi, what about those of us who aren’t farmers? Don’t WE matter. With the limiting or loss of charitable deductions, the loss of the exemption for children, and the already built in phase out of the child tax credit those of us in the middle are going to take it in the shorts. You need to go back to the drawing board and come up with something better. My vote for governor is lost to you if the tax plan is as tough on those of us in the middle as it appears. I’m sure those who are going to added to the rolls of the non-taxpayers are going to love the plan, but how many more are going to be allowed to NOT contribute.

    1. The only people who benefit from tax cuts are the people who pay taxes. If you don’t pay federal income taxes, the tax cuts will not affect you anyway.
      If you aren’t wealthy enough to pay taxes, what’s it to you if the people who pay taxes get a cut? This isn’t about you.

  2. .2% of Americans will be helped by the estate tax repeal. Glad I won’t be able to deduct my property taxes to help them.

    1. With a doubling of the standard deduction only the very wealthy will still be itemizing. You won’t miss your property tax deduction.

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