With the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House expected to hammer out and pass a final tax cut bill this week, U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan’s, R-Fla., proposal to help citrus growers in Florida should be part of the final product.
Buchanan announced on Monday that his “Emergency Citrus Disease Relief Act” is set to be included in the final tax cut bill.
Looking to offer Florida’s citrus industry relief in the wake of citrus greening, Buchanan’s measure giving tax incentives to farmers who need to replace trees impacted by the disease passed the House back in November 2016 but Senate sponsor U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., could not get the measure across the finish line.
“Under current law, growers are allowed an immediate deduction for the cost of replanting diseased trees, but the farmer must bear the full cost,” Buchanan’s office noted when he first brought out the bill. “Buchanan’s proposal would allow struggling farmers to use this deduction even if they bring in investors to raise capital for replanting costs, as long as the grower continues to own a major stake in the grove. It also extends this incentive to purchasers of land with diseased trees.”
Buchanan brought back the proposal at the start of 2017 and it has the support of every member of the Florida delegation.
“Immediate tax relief is crucial to help Florida citrus growers rebuild and get back on their feet,” Buchanan said on Monday. “I'm pleased that my bill to help farmers recover from Hurricane Irma has been included in this key legislation.”
The decline in Florida citrus in recent years is mostly the result of Huanglongbing (HLB), better known as citrus greening. Spread by the Asian citrus psyllid, a tiny insect, citrus greening infects trees, leading to deformed and bitter fruit. Eventually, citrus greening kills the tree. One of the few ways to fight citrus greening is by removing the tree.
Florida citrus was also damaged severely by Hurricane Irma in September which caused around $2.5 billion in losses. The Florida delegation and state leaders including Gov. Rick Scott and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam have been pushing the federal government for relief on the issue.
With the damage from Hurricane Irma and citrus greening, last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture unveiled its latest projections which showed 46 million boxes of Florida oranges will be produced this season, down 8 percent from November’s projections and 33 percent lower than last year. If the forecast is correct, this would be the lowest Florida orange production since the 1944-1945 season.
Last week, more than 50 members of Congress, including majorities of both the Florida and Texas congressional delegations, called on Congress to pass agricultural disaster relief before Christmas as part of a supplemental funding bill. Florida’s two U.S. senators--Republican Marco Rubio and Nelson and most members of the Sunshine State’s delegation in the U.S. House--Republican U.S. Reps. Gus Bilirakis, Buchanan, Carlos Curbelo, Mario Diaz-Balart, Neal Dunn, Bill Posey, Francis Rooney, Tom Rooney, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Dennis Ross, John Rutherford and Ted Yoho and Democrats U.S. Reps. Kathy Castor, Charlie Crist, Val Demings, Ted Deutch, Lois Frankel, Al Lawson, Stephanie Murphy, Darren Soto, Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Frederica Wilson--signed the letter which was sent to the chairmen and ranking Democrats of the Senate and House Appropriations Committees.
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