Lawmakers move quickly on $30M tax break aimed to help farmers

MADISON - Assembly lawmakers are quickly advancing a nearly $30 million plan to cut taxes for Wisconsin farmers, many of whom are experiencing the worst downturn in generations.   

Lawmakers on the Assembly's agriculture committee on Tuesday passed a package of bills introduced just a day earlier that provide $29.5 million in tax breaks for farmers — help from state taxpayers called for by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.    

"This bill would put $27 million directly into the pockets of farmers at a time when they’re number one issue is cash flow," said Republican Rep. Travis Tranel, a dairy farmer in Cuba City.

The emergency legislation comes as Wisconsin dairy farms teeter on the edge of a financial cliff since milk prices dropped dramatically five years ago amid overproduction and failing export markets. 

Wisconsin in 2019 again led the nation in the number of farm bankruptcies and nearly 700 dairy farms shuttered in 2018 — a rate of nearly two a day. 

Tranel authored a bill advanced Tuesday that would provide farmers a $7,500 tax rebate, which could be distributed within a few months.   

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"This is a short-term fix. It's not going to solve all of the problems, but it certainly will alleviate some of the stress," Tranel said during a hearing held by the Assembly's agriculture committee.

Another proposal allows the cost of health insurance to be deducted from sole proprietors' income taxes — a classification that includes self-employed farmers.

Bill author Rep. Amy Loudenbeck, R-Clinton, said the proposal would save farmers an estimated $2.5 million a year collectively. Other kinds of sole proprietors would save more: $7 million annually. The proposals provide a total of $36 million in tax cuts. 

Lawmakers on Tuesday passed five bills authored by Assembly Republicans and two bills called for by Evers, which the Republican lawmakers ultimately modified before passing out of committee. 

In his State of the State speech last month, Evers announced he was calling a special legislative session to take up his $8.5 million plan to boost agriculture exports and otherwise help farmers.  

Lawmakers on the Assembly's agriculture committee voted to amend one of Evers' proposals that would increase Wisconsin's dairy exports — a key part of Evers' plan to help farmers.

The amended bill also seeks to increase meat and crop exports and increases funding from $1 million to $5 million for the Wisconsin Economic and Development Corp. and the state agriculture agency to come up with a program to achieve the goal. 

Democratic lawmakers on the committee objected to the amended bill's delay in the release of that funding to 2021, however.  

Lawmakers have just a few weeks to pass these measures before Assembly and Senate lawmakers adjourn for the year by March.

Evers has said he's open to proposals to help the struggling dairy industry but is worried tax cuts won't provide immediate relief. It's unclear whether Senate Republicans, who control their house, are supportive of the proposals.

Contact Molly Beck at molly.beck@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @MollyBeck.