If Congress doesn’t extend current tax provisions, America’s farmers and ranchers will be forced to pay up to $9 billion more in federal taxes every year. Tax relief enacted by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is set to expire at the end of this year, which would lead to tax increases for almost two-thirds of families, including those in rural America.
“The size of a federal tax bill can make or break farm profitability, particularly for small farms on the brink of breaking even,” said an American Farm Bureau Market Intel Report. “Each dollar that comes out of a farm family’s bank account to pay taxes is one less they can spend on improving their operations, one less to hire another worker, and one less they can put toward growing food, fiber, and fuel.”
The average American farm would pay an additional $5,125 per year in taxes.