GFB Commodity Conference marks
start of policy development
by Jennifer Whittaker

Members of Georgia Farm Bureau’s 20 Commodity Advisory Committees met in Macon, August 7-8, to discuss issues pertinent to Georgia’s major commodities.

“ What you do for us is very important and you are truly the strength of this organization. Today we start writing the policies that will determine the roadmap that Georgia Farm Bureau will work on for you in the coming year,” Georgia Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall said in welcoming the committee members to the conference. “We’re going to hear presentations regarding current and upcoming issues, such as property tax reform and water, for which we, as Farm Bureau members, must determine a position. You must be willing to step out and voice your opinion.”
Conference speakers included Georgia House Speaker Glenn Richardson, Georgia Environmental Protection Division Director Carol Couch, Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority Director of Alternative Fuels Jill Stuckey, Georgia Peanut Commission Executive Director Don Koehler, Bob Redding, president of the Redding Firm, and UGA Poultry Science Extension Coordinator Dan Cunningham.

Richardson outlines property tax reform plan

Richardson outlined his tax reform plan to repeal all property taxes in Georgia. When introducing Richardson, Duvall explained that

Georgia House Speaker Rep. Glenn Richardson

he invited Richardson to address Farm Bureau members because the plan will change the current relationship between property and sales taxes for farmers.
“I want you to hear Speaker Richardson’s presentation so you can help us determine the position Farm Bureau takes on this issue,” Duvall said. “Your county Farm Bureaus are beginning to hold policy development meetings, and we hope you’ll share what you hear today at those meetings.”
Richardson calls his proposal the GREAT plan and explained the name stands for Georgia’s Repeal of Every Ad Valorem Tax. The plan proposes a 4% state sales tax expansion to include all services (in addition to goods) at the point of final delivery. Georgia’s income tax rate would also be set at 4%. These changes would equal zero property tax, Richardson says. The GREAT plan would also allow the state to collect taxes from people driving through the state and any illegal residents.
“Our system was created more than a hundred years ago when we were an agrarian society. That’s why property taxes come due in the fall because that’s when farmers had money from a crop,” Richardson said. “Agriculture is still big business in Georgia, but we’re now a service driven economy. We should be taxed when we’re buying or exchanging goods and services.”
Richardson acknowledged his plan would eliminate most sales tax exemptions. “There are currently 127 sales tax exemptions, and we propose to eliminate most of them. We don’t want to shift the tax burden from homeowners to business and agribusiness owners, so there will be some modified exemptions on ag products and some other transactions.”
Under the GREAT Plan, Richardson says the state would be responsible for distributing funds to school boards across the state. He says state government currently does this with income taxes and sales taxes proving the system could work. “Under this proposal it would still be up to local authorities to determine how local option sales taxes are spent, and they could use local option sales taxes for maintenance and operation costs, not just capital improvements.”
Richardson said he wants the Georgia legislature to allow the plan to be placed on the ballot so Georgia voters can make the decision on the issue.
Current GFB Policy supports replacing property taxes with sales taxes, but only if all agricultural sales tax exemptions are retained (072G, State Sales Tax, page 19, #2).
“It’s policy development time, so our members need to look at this issue to see if they want to make any adjustments in policy,” Duvall said.
Richardson’s presentation differed substantially from the original legislation he introduced on the last day of the session as H.R. 900. The original legislation calls for elimination of all sales and property taxes, which would be replaced by a 5.75% state income tax and a new 5.75% business value added tax.

Couch discusses statewide water plan

Georgia Environmental Protection Division Director Carol Couch highlighted the main policies contained in the draft version of the statewide water plan she submitted to the Georgia Water Council, June 28. Couch

Georgia Environmental Protection Division Director Carol Couch

stressed that the plan isn’t about getting water to metropolitan Atlanta.
“My goal and the goal of the Water Council and Gov. Perdue is that the water plan address the water needs of Georgia in its entirety,” Couch said. “The reason this plan isn’t about getting water to Atlanta is because outside of the 16-county area of the North Metropolitan District, which has a water plan in place, none of Georgia’s remaining 143 counties have such a plan in place.”
Couch stressed that planning needs to be done regionally, but said the draft proposes a method for conducting uniform, regional planning so that all regions consider how much water they have and how much they need. She also said a lack of data regarding public water use and river and aquifer capacity is an obstacle the state faces as it moves forward in developing a plan.
“You can’t manage what you don’t measure. We’ve got to track and measure water use in all sectors of use, as you in agriculture are doing,” Couch said. “For the whole state, our per capita water use is ten percent greater than the national average.”
The plan includes a moratorium on interbasin transfers of raw water and includes new rules and guidelines for building new reservoirs.
“We need more reservoirs in Georgia, but we need them to come online quickly. It takes 14 years between deciding to build a reservoir and cutting the ribbon. We don’t have that kind of time. We need to do careful, thoughtful planning on the front end of building new regional reservoirs to take in consideration issues, such as wetlands, that might cause a delay,” Couch said.
The Water Council will hold another round of town hall meetings October 15-19 to get public feedback on the draft plan. She encouraged Farm Bureau to voice its opinions and thanked the organization for its active participation in the last round.

Farm bill vote may be delayed to ‘08

Ag lobbyist Bob Redding warned that the final farm bill vote isn’t likely to come until next year.
“There’s a good chance Congress will have to pass something to cover winter wheat, but the entire farm bill won’t be passed until 2008,” Redding said. “In the best scenario, the Senate passes a bill by the end of September that goes to conference committee, which would take up October and November. Then there’s no floor time for final passage until next year.”
Although there’s a lot of talk about lowering adjusted gross income eligibility for payments to $250,000, he doesn’t think the Senate will lower it much below the $1 million cap the House passed.

Lee receives Commodity Award

The ‘07 GFB Commodity Award was presented to former GFB employee Jimmy Lee, who retired August 31, 2007 with 26 years of

Duvall and Lee

service. Lee began producing Georgia Farm Monitor programs for GFB in 1967 and joined the GFB staff as director of radio and television services in 1970.
He left GFB in 1985 and founded Master Video Productions. From 1985-1997 he produced and hosted a weekly half-hour television program and hosted a daily radio program for the Georgia Peanut Commission. He returned to GFB in 1997 as a commodity specialist and occasionally produced features for the Georgia Farm Monitor.
In retirement, he still occasionally is a guest-host on the nationally broadcast Georgia Farm Monitor

GFB members attending the conference were the first to see the organization’s redesigned souvenir peanut bags. Previously distributed in clear bags, the peanuts are now packaged in a gold foil material designed to extend the shelf life of the nuts. The back of the bag displays contact information for GFB and the “Quality USA” logo of the American Peanut Council signifying the peanuts are produced in the USA. The peanuts are packaged in Georgia with a guarantee to contain Georgia-grown peanuts. Each bag contains 3/4 oz. of peanuts.