The legislation passed to avoid the year-end fiscal cliff includes an extension of the biodiesel tax incentive and a solution for the estate tax. American Soybean Association President Danny Murphy says the extension of the biodiesel credit and the permanent solution to the estate tax were both victories for soybean farmers. He notes both have been priorities for ASA in recent years - and says soybean farmers stand to benefit significantly from the stability and certainty created by the provisions.
Murphy says the estate tax would have reverted to levels unrealistic for family farm operations in the absence of congressional action. He says the 40-percent tax rate on estates valued at five-million dollars - or 10-million per couple - is a much more viable framework for the land-based and capital-intensive nature of family farms. According to Murphy - this solution will allow farmers to pass their operations from generation to generation without the undue burden of an unrealistic estate tax structure.
The extension of the biodiesel tax incentive - Murphy says - is a significant win for the biodiesel industry. He says more than half of all biodiesel produced in the U.S. uses the oil from American-grown soybeans - which helps grow our domestic fuel supply and creates soy meal as a by-product - providing protein-rich animal feed for livestock, poultry and aquaculture.
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