By Mary Geiger, NCBA Communications
The National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) supports the administration’s recognition of the need to improve government efficiency and eliminate wasteful spending. However, Colin Woodall, NCBA vice president of government affairs, said precautions must be in place to avoid unintended consequences. Specifically, he says NCBA has strong concerns about President Obama’s proposal to merge the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) with other trade agencies.
He says NCBA has a strong history of working closely with USTR on behalf of the beef industry. The organization supports the continuation of the current structure and functions of USTR.
Listen to remarks from Woodall below. Be sure to listen to previous clips as well.
Beltway Beef Commentary - NCBA's Take on Consolidating Trade Agencies by Beltway Beef
January 12, 2012
Terrorist Activity Has No Place in American Agriculture
By NCBA President Bill Donald
One reward of ranch life in rural Montana is that after a hard-days’ work, I get to fall asleep listening to the bawl of mama cows near the house. I
imagine farmers and ranchers across the nation can relate to that calming sound. While there are many sounds that come from farms and ranches, one thing we don’t expect to hear is the sound of our farm equipment exploding outside our windows. Unfortunately, for the men and women who make their home at or near the Harris Ranch feedyard in Fresno County, Calif., that is no longer a foreign sound. This past Sunday night, they were awaken to the sound of 14 cattle trucks exploding and burning near the feed yard.
I thank God that no person and no animals were injured in this senseless act. But make no mistake – this was a horrific act of terrorism against a fellow agricultural producer. Whoever is responsible – be it an individual or a group of people – they must be brought to justice and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
America’s farmers and ranchers are some of the most honorable men and women around. We work seven days a week, 365 days a year regardless of weather extremes caring for our animals and our crops. We take pride in our chosen way of life because, after all, we’re feeding and clothing the world.
Opening Christmas presents or celebrating birthdays is often put on hold until after our animals are fed, watered and cared for – that’s a fact for my family and for many others as well. That is why I was extremely alarmed to learn that animal rights extremists are taking credit for the Harris Ranch attack. How can anyone who claims to care about the health and safety of animals commit such an act that could very easily have harmed or killed many animals?
Harris Ranch is working with the local Fresno County Sherriff’s department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to determine who committed this heinous crime. While there is no concrete evidence that an animal rights group is behind this arson, I sure hope everyone – including all animal-welfare organizations – will follow Harris Ranch’s lead and cooperate during this investigation. It’s the only right option.
While farm and ranch life can sometime leave us a days’ drive from the city, we’re all aware of the horrific, cowardly acts of terrorists to inflict economic, physical, psychological and emotional harm and pain on victims. No one, farmers and ranchers included, should have to fear attacks against them, their family, their animals or their property. While we can all step up surveillance and take precautions on our farms and ranches, we should not have to live in fear. Terrorist acts have no place – not in America and not on farms and ranches.
America’s cattlemen and women stand with me and offer our support to Harris Ranch. We stand unified in our efforts to produce the safest, most wholesome and abundant food supply in the world. We owe it to ourselves, to our fellow agricultural producers and to the millions of people who purchase our products to feed their families to continue doing our jobs. We cannot stand by and allow crimes like these to stop us from caring for our animals.
One reward of ranch life in rural Montana is that after a hard-days’ work, I get to fall asleep listening to the bawl of mama cows near the house. I
imagine farmers and ranchers across the nation can relate to that calming sound. While there are many sounds that come from farms and ranches, one thing we don’t expect to hear is the sound of our farm equipment exploding outside our windows. Unfortunately, for the men and women who make their home at or near the Harris Ranch feedyard in Fresno County, Calif., that is no longer a foreign sound. This past Sunday night, they were awaken to the sound of 14 cattle trucks exploding and burning near the feed yard.I thank God that no person and no animals were injured in this senseless act. But make no mistake – this was a horrific act of terrorism against a fellow agricultural producer. Whoever is responsible – be it an individual or a group of people – they must be brought to justice and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
America’s farmers and ranchers are some of the most honorable men and women around. We work seven days a week, 365 days a year regardless of weather extremes caring for our animals and our crops. We take pride in our chosen way of life because, after all, we’re feeding and clothing the world.
Opening Christmas presents or celebrating birthdays is often put on hold until after our animals are fed, watered and cared for – that’s a fact for my family and for many others as well. That is why I was extremely alarmed to learn that animal rights extremists are taking credit for the Harris Ranch attack. How can anyone who claims to care about the health and safety of animals commit such an act that could very easily have harmed or killed many animals?
Harris Ranch is working with the local Fresno County Sherriff’s department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to determine who committed this heinous crime. While there is no concrete evidence that an animal rights group is behind this arson, I sure hope everyone – including all animal-welfare organizations – will follow Harris Ranch’s lead and cooperate during this investigation. It’s the only right option.
While farm and ranch life can sometime leave us a days’ drive from the city, we’re all aware of the horrific, cowardly acts of terrorists to inflict economic, physical, psychological and emotional harm and pain on victims. No one, farmers and ranchers included, should have to fear attacks against them, their family, their animals or their property. While we can all step up surveillance and take precautions on our farms and ranches, we should not have to live in fear. Terrorist acts have no place – not in America and not on farms and ranches.
America’s cattlemen and women stand with me and offer our support to Harris Ranch. We stand unified in our efforts to produce the safest, most wholesome and abundant food supply in the world. We owe it to ourselves, to our fellow agricultural producers and to the millions of people who purchase our products to feed their families to continue doing our jobs. We cannot stand by and allow crimes like these to stop us from caring for our animals.
January 9, 2012
Make 2012 the Year for Permanent Estate Tax Relief
By Kent Bacus, NCBA manager of legislative affairs
If you’re like me, you enjoy watching the History Channel and Discovery Channel. I enjoy learning about other cultures and civilizations and listening to experts discuss how mankind has advanced throughout the years and make predictions on what the future will hold. Lately, a theme has revolved around what will happe
n on Dec. 21, 2012. Many ancient cultures have predicted that some major, perhaps apocalyptic, event will happen on that day. Perhaps the ancient Mayans were a few days off. For the beef industry, our real concern is what will happen after Dec. 31, 2012.
One of the most important issues facing family farmers and ranchers and small business owners nationwide is the future of the estate tax, more commonly referred to as the death tax. The death tax is one of the leading causes of the breakup of multi-generation family farms and ranches. At the time of the death, farming and ranching families are forced to sell off land, farm equipment, parts of the operation or the entire ranch to pay off tax liabilities on assets that have likely been taxed two or three times over the course of a lifetime. This outdated tax is not a tax on the wealthy. The wealthy can afford accountants and estate planners to help them evade the tax. The death tax hurts family-owned farms and ranches hardest.
Unfortunately, this is not a new issue for farmers and ranchers. As you may recall, at the end of 2010, Congress and the White House agreed to a two year tax package that included temporary estate tax relief. For now, estates worth more than $5 million per individual or $10 million per couple are taxed at a 35 percent rate. The two-year estate tax package also reinstated stepped-up basis, indexes the estate tax exemption for inflation and contains a spousal transfer of any unused estate tax exemption amount. The tax package also included a two-year extension of 2001 and 2003 income tax rates for all income levels, set the capital gains tax rate at 15 percent for two years and included a two year patch for the alternative minimum tax. All of these issues must be addressed by the end of 2012.
As Congress begins the second session of the 112th Congress, it’s time, once again, to turn our attention to providing permanent relief from the death tax. If Congress fails to act by the end of this year, the estate tax will revert to a staggering $1 million exemption with a 55 percent tax rate. Increasing production costs, rising property values and an uncertain tax code make it difficult to form a business plan, much less plan for the future of your estate. We cannot afford for the estate tax to continue being a political football that is punted year after year. We need permanency in the tax code.
As the oldest and largest national organization representing cattlemen, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) will work tirelessly seeking full and permanent estate tax relief. Members of Congress have already begun working on this issue. In fact, Congressman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) introduced the Death Tax Permanency Repeal Act and has support on his legislation from more than 190 bipartisan members of Congress. NCBA is a staunch supporter of Congressman Brady’s legislation. If a full repeal is not achievable, NCBA supports making the 2010 estate tax package permanent.
While there has been some discussion of movement toward comprehensive tax reform in both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives, it is difficult to predict what Congress and the White House will do this year. One thing is certain, however, Congress and the White House need to hear from you about why we need permanency in the estate tax. They need to know that the estate tax is not a political football. They need to understand that there are no political points to be earned by punting this issue to a later day or by kneeling on the ball to run out the clock. Join us as we continue to fight for permanent estate tax relief.
As we begin 2012, many of us are striving to keep those New Year’s resolutions we announced to our friends and families as an attempt to improve ourselves physically, intellectually or financially. For the sake of all Americans, let us hope that one of the resolutions of Congress and the White House is providing permanent estate tax relief in 2012.
If you’re like me, you enjoy watching the History Channel and Discovery Channel. I enjoy learning about other cultures and civilizations and listening to experts discuss how mankind has advanced throughout the years and make predictions on what the future will hold. Lately, a theme has revolved around what will happe
n on Dec. 21, 2012. Many ancient cultures have predicted that some major, perhaps apocalyptic, event will happen on that day. Perhaps the ancient Mayans were a few days off. For the beef industry, our real concern is what will happen after Dec. 31, 2012.One of the most important issues facing family farmers and ranchers and small business owners nationwide is the future of the estate tax, more commonly referred to as the death tax. The death tax is one of the leading causes of the breakup of multi-generation family farms and ranches. At the time of the death, farming and ranching families are forced to sell off land, farm equipment, parts of the operation or the entire ranch to pay off tax liabilities on assets that have likely been taxed two or three times over the course of a lifetime. This outdated tax is not a tax on the wealthy. The wealthy can afford accountants and estate planners to help them evade the tax. The death tax hurts family-owned farms and ranches hardest.
Unfortunately, this is not a new issue for farmers and ranchers. As you may recall, at the end of 2010, Congress and the White House agreed to a two year tax package that included temporary estate tax relief. For now, estates worth more than $5 million per individual or $10 million per couple are taxed at a 35 percent rate. The two-year estate tax package also reinstated stepped-up basis, indexes the estate tax exemption for inflation and contains a spousal transfer of any unused estate tax exemption amount. The tax package also included a two-year extension of 2001 and 2003 income tax rates for all income levels, set the capital gains tax rate at 15 percent for two years and included a two year patch for the alternative minimum tax. All of these issues must be addressed by the end of 2012.
As Congress begins the second session of the 112th Congress, it’s time, once again, to turn our attention to providing permanent relief from the death tax. If Congress fails to act by the end of this year, the estate tax will revert to a staggering $1 million exemption with a 55 percent tax rate. Increasing production costs, rising property values and an uncertain tax code make it difficult to form a business plan, much less plan for the future of your estate. We cannot afford for the estate tax to continue being a political football that is punted year after year. We need permanency in the tax code.
As the oldest and largest national organization representing cattlemen, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) will work tirelessly seeking full and permanent estate tax relief. Members of Congress have already begun working on this issue. In fact, Congressman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) introduced the Death Tax Permanency Repeal Act and has support on his legislation from more than 190 bipartisan members of Congress. NCBA is a staunch supporter of Congressman Brady’s legislation. If a full repeal is not achievable, NCBA supports making the 2010 estate tax package permanent.
While there has been some discussion of movement toward comprehensive tax reform in both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives, it is difficult to predict what Congress and the White House will do this year. One thing is certain, however, Congress and the White House need to hear from you about why we need permanency in the estate tax. They need to know that the estate tax is not a political football. They need to understand that there are no political points to be earned by punting this issue to a later day or by kneeling on the ball to run out the clock. Join us as we continue to fight for permanent estate tax relief.
As we begin 2012, many of us are striving to keep those New Year’s resolutions we announced to our friends and families as an attempt to improve ourselves physically, intellectually or financially. For the sake of all Americans, let us hope that one of the resolutions of Congress and the White House is providing permanent estate tax relief in 2012.
December 24, 2011
Merry Christmas from NCBA
December 20, 2011
Nebraska Cattleman Prepares to Serve as NCBA President
By Mike Deering, NCBA Communications
When cattlemen and women gather in Nashville, Tenn., Feb. 1-4, for the 2012 Cattle Industry Convention and National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) Trade Show, they will be welcoming J.D. Alexander as the new NCBA President. At convention, he will take the reins from Montana cattleman Bill Donald.
Alexander is a veteran cattle feeder and farmer from Pilger, Neb., with a long history as a leader in the industry and at NCBA. Alexander will be leading the organization forward at a time when the industry is faced with record-high cattle prices but also a multitude of challenges in the form of increased regulatory burdens and growing risk.
Listen to remarks from J.D. below. Be sure to listen to previous clips as well.
Beltway Beef Commentary - J.D. Alexander Prepares to Serve as NCBA President (12.20.2011) by Beltway Beef
When cattlemen and women gather in Nashville, Tenn., Feb. 1-4, for the 2012 Cattle Industry Convention and National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) Trade Show, they will be welcoming J.D. Alexander as the new NCBA President. At convention, he will take the reins from Montana cattleman Bill Donald.
Alexander is a veteran cattle feeder and farmer from Pilger, Neb., with a long history as a leader in the industry and at NCBA. Alexander will be leading the organization forward at a time when the industry is faced with record-high cattle prices but also a multitude of challenges in the form of increased regulatory burdens and growing risk.
Listen to remarks from J.D. below. Be sure to listen to previous clips as well.
Beltway Beef Commentary - J.D. Alexander Prepares to Serve as NCBA President (12.20.2011) by Beltway Beef
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
