Congress is debating the first major tax reform package in more than 30 years. This is no small task, and if the right provisions are set in place, an updated federal tax code could yield real economic growth across rural America.

 

We’ve been busy reviewing the tax plan details, looking to the bills coming out of committee, and keeping our eyes set on our primary goal: reducing the tax burden for America’s farms and ranches. We talk a lot about how farms and ranches face unique challenges, and that fact becomes all the more clear during tax season. For example, 94 percent of all farms are not incorporated as large businesses—which goes to show how much smaller our stack of income receipts is compared to most businesses. We face the balancing act every season as we manage high input costs against an unpredictable cash flow to keep our businesses running and, we hope, turn a profit. It takes a lot of faith and careful business planning—some years even the best plans are wiped out by Mother Nature or a downturned economy.

Beyond the Fencerows