Farmers Rally for Repeal of Equipment Sales Tax
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SACRAMENTO — More than 100 tractor-driving farmers clogged downtown streets Monday to support a bill to overturn the state sales tax on farm equipment.
The farmers say low commodity prices and high production costs already put California growers at a disadvantage against their out-of-state and foreign competitors.
Only three other states--Washington, Nevada and Hawaii--fully tax farm equipment.
Assemblyman Dennis Cardoza (D-Merced) wrote the bill after the state’s tax-collecting agency cracked down on out-of-state equipment purchases.
The State Board of Equalization last year obtained warranty records from two major equipment manufacturers and demanded sales tax from the farmers who registered their equipment in California but bought it in another state. About 1,200 California farmers bought farm equipment out of state from 1995 to 1998, according to the board.
Opponents of the legislation said the bill would mostly benefit large farming corporations that buy most of the farm equipment, not struggling family farmers.
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