[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Pages 16746-16747]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                  RURAL AMERICA PROSPERITY ACT OF 2000

  Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, I rise today to express my support of the 
Rural America Prosperity Act of 2000. I am pleased to be a cosponsor, 
along with my colleagues, Senators Lugar, Roberts, and Santorum. I am a 
cosponsor of this bill because it gives our farmers some of the tools 
they need to succeed in today's economy and works to finish what was a 
key tool in our current agriculture policy.

[[Page 16747]]

  In 1996, we passed a new version of the farm bill. This legislation 
began the process of eliminating government control over farmers. No 
longer did the government dictate what crops farmers could plant. 
Farmers could use their own discretion, honed by generations of living 
on the land, as to how their land and finances would be managed. The 
farm bill made numerous steps in the right direction, but there is more 
we can do. This, I believe, is a very important step to make this 
legislation better and more flexible.
  This legislation takes us a few steps further down the road to better 
farming policy. It includes three important tax provisions that I feel 
are vital to the survival of Montana's and America's farmers. The first 
is the repeal of the estate tax, which would allow farms to be passed 
along to the next generation. Without the repeal, sons and daughters 
are forced to sell the only home they have ever known to pay the estate 
taxes, when their parents die. Family farms are disappearing fast 
enough without this added burden.
  The second vital tax provision is the exclusion of capital gains from 
the sale of farmland. This simply puts farm owners on an even playing 
field with homeowners, who already benefit from exclusion of capital 
gains. The third tax provision lies in the area of health insurance. 
Farmers, and others who are self-employed, do not have health insurance 
provided for them. They must cover the full cost themselves. This 
legislation would give those who are self-employed a tax deduction for 
the cost of their insurance.
  Farmers, more than any other sector of our economy are likely to 
experience substantial fluctuations in income. Market forces in farming 
are very unique: drought, flooding, infestation and disease all play a 
vital role in a farmer's bottom line. And it's not often when the 
elements of mother nature allow for a profitable harvest more than once 
in several years. I believe that farmers need to be able to smooth out 
fluctuations in their income in order to offset the effect of the high 
marginal tax rates that occur in years when both yield and prices are 
up. Income averaging is an important tool for farmers. Currently, 
alternative minimum taxes prevent many farmers from receiving the 
benefits of income averaging. This bill would fix that. Farmers will be 
able to put up to 20 percent of their annual farm income into a FARRM 
account that is deducted from their taxes.
  As many of you know, while the rest of the economy is surging ahead, 
agriculture has been left behind in the dust. Prices are dropping, and 
farmers and ranchers are going out of business. We must assist in their 
survival and the development of new markets is an essential part of 
that survival. Imposing trade sanctions hurts American farmers and 
ranchers. Sanctions have effectively shut out American agricultural 
producers from 11 percent of the world market, with sanctions imposed 
on various products of over 60 countries. They allow our competitors an 
open door to those markets where sanctions are imposed by the United 
States. In times like these our producers need every available 
marketing option open to them. We cannot afford lost market share. 
Foreign markets offer a great opportunity for our agricultural products 
and negotiating trade agreements may put life back into our rural 
communities.
  The farm bill took bold steps, but we cannot stop there. This 
legislation continues to make those steps towards a better situation 
for our farmers.

                          ____________________