Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays is back featuring comments from Farm Director KC Sheperd’s interview with the National Cattlemen’s Association executive director of government affairs, Kent Bacus, talking about tax policy.
“I think we have a lot of concerns with this administration’s approach to tax policy,” Bacus said. “They want to, in the name of equity and inclusion and building from the bottom up, they are taking out a lot of our smaller producers with some of these tax proposals.”
Many of these changes the Biden administration is pushing, Bacus said, are going to make it tough for family cattle operations to say in business.
“While that may not be their intent, that is the reality if these policies go through,” Bacus said. “This is where we need people to engage. We need you to tell your story, we need you to talk about what the estate tax has done to you, what it could do to you, what it could do to your children. We need you to talk about the importance of all of these relief measures because they will pass the buck onto something else. They want to fund a lot of these big programs, and they will do it on your backs unless you stand up to them and say, ‘No, that is not how we are going to do things.’”
Bacus said a pro-growth economy is not achieved through large tax increases.
“You have to do it through expanded trade, you have to do it through a stronger economy, and you don’t do that on the backs of mom-and-pop operations, family-owned businesses, and multi-generational cattle operations that depend on stability in the tax code, predictability in the tax code and economic opportunities that allow them to invest and keep the next generation on the farm and the ranch,” Bacus said.
While most provisions are set to expire in 2025, Bacus said a large portion of Congress was not present when they were voted on.
“What may sound good or what may sound like it is not a threat to some people here in Washington could be a real threat to your operation,” Bacus said. “That is why we need to speak up. We have to be the face of these issues.”
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR for today’s show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
