Proposition 5 – Animal feed tax exemption
Proposition 5 is about animal feed tax exemption.
Per KUT News:
Animal feed is almost entirely tax exempt, from cultivation to retail sale. But animal feed in retail inventory awaiting sale is subject to personal property tax.
Proposition 5 seeks to close that gap. If approved by voters, House Joint Resolution 99 would give the Legislature the ability to exempt animal feed in retailers’ inventories from personal property taxes as well as set rules and limitations on the exemption.
This is very inside-baseball, with specific retailers pushing on the state government to exempt animal feed in their inventories from personal property taxes. As KUT News notes, this would be a strange carve-out because all other inventory is already subject to personal property taxes. So this would give special treatment to retailers who sell animal feed.
I am not also convinced at all that these retailers would pass on savings to farmers. Why bother when the state will boost your profits at the stroke of a pen?
Recommendation: No