Eighteen state and national trade associations joined in a Feb. 25 letter to leaders of the Senate Finance Committee objecting to the committee’s proposal to create a new asset pooling system to depreciate business property and repeal like-kind exchange.

The letter to Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who recently took over the committee’s chairmanship, and Ranking Member Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) expressed support for tax reform that improves the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) for both corporations and pass-through entities and creates a tax environment conducive to economic growth and investment. However, the letter said the pool scheme, proposed in November 2013 (before Wyden took over the Finance Committee) would create unrealistically lengthy asset recovery periods for business assets that will negatively impact business cash flow and reduce economic growth and job creation.   Read More...

The House’s top tax writer on Wednesday challenged his colleagues to embrace a broad and radical tax reform plan that would pare back breaks once thought untouchable to achieve a monumental overhaul of the IRS code.   Read More...

A new study shows proposed changes to the tax code restricting the use of cash accounting by agricultural operations would reduce agriculture's access to capital by as much as $12.1 billion over the next four years.   Read More...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 20, 2014 –USDA today released the preliminary 2012 Census of Agriculture results.  Key findings include an increase in the value of agricultural products sold in the United States totaling $394.6 billion in 2012, up 33 percent ($97.4 billion) from 2007.  The number of farms and land in farms were down slightly, but held steady. Additionally, agriculture is becoming more diverse.   Read More...

Dozens of Republican senators on Tuesday called on the White House to approve the Keystone XL pipeline as foes vowed to risk arrest at protests against the controversial project.   Read More...

The Obama administration on Monday announced it is delaying the employer mandate under ObamaCare until 2016 for some small businesses. This delay in the mandate — the second so far — would only apply to businesses with between 50 and 99 employees, who would have until January 2016 to decide whether to offer insurance to their employees or pay a penalty. Businesses would also be barred from cutting their workers in order to fall under the threshold. The employer mandate, a cornerstone of the healthcare law, was set to take effect in January, but the administration announced in July that companies would have until January of 2015 to comply.   Read More...

The controversial Keystone XL pipeline cleared a major hurdle on Friday as the State Department ruled the project wouldn’t significantly increase greenhouse gas emissions. 
The finding puts the pipeline one step closer to approval, and sets up a new battle between environmental groups and oil companies over whether the project is in the national interest. 
The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the project reiterates key parts of a draft analysis released early last year, finding that oil sands extraction would continue regardless of whether the pipeline is built.   Read More...

NAEDA has submitted comments to EPA concerning their proposal to reduce the 2014 biofuel blending requirement under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). In the comments, it was noted that reducing the required levels of biofuels will have an impact on farmers, their income and equipment dealers and their employees.

The comments noted that “Reducing the required levels of biofuels will also have an effect on job creation, reduce our nation’s energy security and cut future investments in the development of next generation biofuels. The current standards, which the industry has met and planned for, have helped reduce dependence on foreign sources of oil and provided needed reductions in greenhouse gases by millions of metric tons.”   Read More...

Section 179 of the Internal Revenue Code allows your customers to expense a portion of equipment purchases (new or used) in any given year.  This essentially allows customers to accelerate depreciation of the equipment and the related tax savings.  In 2013, this deduction could be used by any customer making purchases of equipment (or other property that must be depreciated) that totaled $2,000,000 or less in that year.   If your customer was in this category, $500,000 of these purchases could be deducted under Section 179.   Read More...