Op-ed by Bill Yancey
Captain, USN-ret, and U.S. Arkansas Rancher
An open letter from an Arkansas cattle rancher:
Do you like a good hamburger? If so, read on.
American cattle producers (ranchers) are disappearing. According to the USDA, over a 25-year period, more than 30,000 cattle producers have gone out of business. Among the factors contributing to this are high land prices, equipment expenses, bad press by the U.S. government (“don’t eat beef”), and age. The average age of U.S. cattle ranchers is 70 years old.
Raising cattle is a 24/7, 365-day-a-year job. When a corn grower is sitting by a fire in December, a cattle rancher is feeding cattle hay. In July, when the corn grower is on vacation waiting on the crop to mature, a cattle rancher is baling hay. Like a rock-and-roll band, cattle ranching is a business of passion. It doesn’t pencil out.
You do it ‘cause you love it.
U.S. law has a tax on American ranchers and foreign beef importers: the Beef Checkoff. The tax is used to promote beef. It promotes foreign beef and American beef equally. This is insane. American ranchers pay taxes on every head of cattle they sell. Importers pay too. For every 578 pounds of beef coming off a ship in New Orleans, or every head of live cattle from Mexico or Canada, importers pay taxes to the Cattlemen’s Beef Board (CBB). However, half of the taxes paid by U.S. ranchers goes to the state’s Cattlemen’s Associations; the remainder goes to the CBB. This means importers have more influence on what the Checkoff supports because the CBB does not share taxes paid by importers with state beef councils. Importers of beef from Mexico, Canada, Brazil, Australia, and about 20 other foreign countries send the U.S. their beef. Which means the CBB supports world beef—not U.S.A. beef exclusively. Congress does not require foreign beef to show country of origin. USDA-inspected does not mean U.S.A. product. Hope President Trump enjoys foreign beef on his Big Mac. Mr. Trump needs to remove importers from the CBB.
But it’s not just a federal tax problem. When I sell cattle in Arkansas, I pay five taxes:
• Federal income tax
• State income tax
• Personal property tax
• Beef Checkoff tax
• Arkansas bovine health tax
Arkansas is the only state with a bovine health tax. The tax began in the ’90s to prevent brucellosis. Arkansas has been certified brucellosis-free for 25 years, but the tax remains. This tax has created a honeypot for the Arkansas Livestock and Poultry Department. A FOIA request showed the tax is spent on new trucks, bottled water, and other expenditures having nothing to do with cattle health. My state senator tried to repeal the bovine health tax but could not get support from the governor, the Arkansas Cattlemen’s Association, or the Arkansas Farm Bureau.
Also, Arkansas charges farmers and ranchers sales tax on purchases used in their business. I shop out of state for ranching essentials. The state of Oklahoma gives me a sales tax exemption card because I raise cattle. Good neighbor. If I need a tractor repaired, I take it to Missouri. No sales tax on farmers and ranchers for parts or labor in Tennessee, Texas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Kansas. Governor Sanders and our state representatives should support agriculture in Arkansas by repealing the bovine tax and exempting Arkansas’ farmers and ranchers from sales tax on agricultural purchases.
