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Dairy Investment Tax Credit faces uncertain future Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Agri News staff writer
ST. PAUL -- First, the good news: A version of the Dairy Investment Tax Credit made it into the tax bill.
Then the bad news: Gov. Tim Pawlenty has indicated the tax bill is "headed in the direction of a veto."
Pawlenty has said he might veto the entire bill to prevent government finance officials from including inflation estimates in their budget forecasts that determine whether the state has a surplus or deficit.
He has until midnight June 1 to act on the bill. If he approves the bill, Minnesota dairy producers would have access to a Dairy Investment Grant Program. Producers would have to spend a minimum of $40,000 to qualify and the maximum eligible expenditure would be $500,000, said Bob Lefebvre, executive director of the Minnesota Milk Producers Association. Qualifying producers would receive a grant for 10 percent of their purchase.
"The good news is we've got language in the tax bill," Lefebvre said. "The less good news is we've got $500,000 for the program for the next two years."
The list of eligible items remained close to that approved by the agriculture committees, he said. Several legislators, including Rep. Al Juhnke, DFL-Willmar, Rep. Dean Urdahl, R-Grove City, Sen. Rod Skoe, DFL-Clearbrook, and Rep. Brad Finstad, R-New Ulm, worked hard to reach a compromise on the dairy legislation, Lefebvre said. The governor's office and agriculture department were also involved. If the governor chooses to veto the bill, the dairy tax grant would be a victim.
"It's unfortunate that legislative leaders and the governor couldn't come to a global agreement," Lefebvre said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. |
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