Farm Legislation and Taxes in the 110th Congress (CRS Report for Congress)
| Release Date |
Revised Jan. 22, 2008 |
| Report Number |
RS22759 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
David L. Brumbaugh, Government and Finance Division |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
| Older Revisions |
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Summary:
On July 27, 2007, the House passed its version of the omnibus 2007 farm bill (H.R.2419). The bill's spending provisions are estimated to increase federal spending onagriculture policy above the baseline level allowed by the FY2008 budget resolution.In order to comply with House pay-as-you-go budget rules, the bill included severalrevenue-raising provisions, the bulk of which would be produced by a proposal torestrict the use of tax-treaty benefits by foreign firms not actually resident in a treatycountry. In October, the Senate Finance Committee approved S. 2242, a bill containinga number of agriculture-related tax provisions, but also containing energy andconservation measures along with a revenue-raising proposal designed to curtail taxshelters (codification of the "economic substance" doctrine). The Senate FinanceCommittee bill is estimated to be approximately "revenue neutral," gaining as much newtax revenue as it loses. However, it also contains an optional new tax credit that isestimated to have the effect of reducing outlays under an existing U.S. Department ofAgriculture program by $3.0 billion over five years, thus providing room for newspending in the Senate version of the farm bill without violating Senate budget rules.On December 14, the full Senate approved an omnibus farm bill (an amended versionof H.R. 2419) containing the essential elements of the Finance Committee tax package.
