We feel the General Assembly should develop a plan to repair and upgrade our aging highway system. We would request one of the General Assembly’s priorities be on the improvement and modernization of rural bridges and road. As we move our state’s main port to bigger more modern ships we also need to improve our roads so our state’s number 1 industry can get goods and materials to the port for export.
The budgets of several state agencies that work with the agricultural community are very important to Farm Bureau. We support funding for Clemson PSA, the Forestry Commission, Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Agriculture.
When the General Assembly passed the legislation to increase the cigarette tax, it made a promise to the agricultural industry of five million dollars for the SC Department of Agriculture in order to sustain the Marketing and Branding of SC Grown commodities. Unfortunately the funds received fall short of what was promised. The SC Grown initiative has been a great investment by the state and 5 million dollars was the General Assembly’s strategy to keep this program viable until the General Fund could sustain a strong recurring appropriation to this great program. We would request the General Assembly fulfill the promise of 5 million dollars and secure a recurring appropriation to the Department of Agriculture for this critical program.
As the General Assembly continues to look at tax reform, we ask them to not hurt agribusiness in this process. We will continue to work with the General Assembly and the Department of Revenue to restructure the process in which merchants verify the eligibility of bonafide farmers receiving exemptions on sales tax and receiving agriculture/forestland classification.
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