By Rep. Paul Anderson
During last week’s special legislative session dealing with disaster aid, the main topic at times took a back seat to another subject. The repeal of certain taxes was brought up several times during floor debate, although no official action was taken on the repeal of any tax. It’s interesting to note, however, that of the 20 bills introduced during the special session, 13 dealt with changes to Minnesota’s tax code. The most popular topic was the sales tax on the repair of commercial equipment, including farm and other business machines. In all, four bills were introduced to eliminate all the so-called “Business to Business” (B2B) taxes.
Another four bill introductions dealt with repealing just the sales tax on farm repairs. That tax, in effect since July, collects the full sales tax rate on the labor portion of repair bills for farm machines and equipment. Two of those bills were introduced by members of the DFL party and two by Republicans, showing that the topic is truly bi-partisan. In fact, House File No. 2, the one right behind the main disaster relief bill, was a farm sales tax repeal bill signed onto by nine Democrats, many of whom voted for the original tax bill in the first place.
I signed on to three bills that were introduced at the special session. One called for the elimination of all B2B taxes, another called for the specific repeal of the tax on farm repairs, and the third dealt with rolling back the increase in the cigarette and tobacco tax that was enacted during the last session.
These extra bill introductions were largely symbolic as no action was taken on any of them. It does show, however, that interest in these taxes is high and that pressure is mounting on both sides of the aisle to remove at least some of them. With revenue collections running behind projections for the second consecutive month, however, it may be more difficult to repeal any of these taxes next year. Money coming into the state is running about 2 percent behind forecast for the first two months of the new fiscal year, although the Labor Day holiday caused one less day to be counted in the August total.
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The slow, soaking rainfall over the weekend was wonderful to receive. The one inch that fell on our farm was the largest amount of precipitation since back in June when heavy storms crossed the state. It’s probably a couple of weeks too late in terms of helping this year’s farm crops as many of the soybeans have begun turning color and dropping their leaves. Much of the corn as well, has begun turning ripe as the hot, dry summer pushed crops to maturity too quickly for the available moisture. In fact, a neighbor of mine combined soybeans last week, having to leave only a few green spots in a field that was mostly dry.
For the most part, yields will not measure up to last year, which was an amazingly good year around these parts. Kernels will probably be smaller than normal, and test weights will be lighter. I visited with a farmer who raises corn under irrigation, and he also commented on the smaller size of kernels this year. Lower prices for farm commodities in the year ahead will help those who buy feed for livestock. One big exception to lower prices is alfalfa. Because of shortages in other parts of the country and dryness around the Upper Midwest, prices for high quality dairy hay are extremely high.
Most silage chopping has already been completed, and we can expect fall harvest to get into full swing in the next couple of weeks. Be careful on our rural roads and watch out for big, slow-moving harvest equipment.
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