Senate Bill 70 Passes Senate Committee on Finance
Richmond -- Senator Frank M. Ruff, Jr. (R - Clarksville) Tuesday secured approval from a key state Senate committee for tax relief for Virginia tobacco farmers. Ruff's bill would exclude from state income taxation the amount tobacco quota holders received from the federal tobacco buyout program. The tax savings are estimated to total close to $14 million over a six year period.
The Senate Committee on Finance passed the bill by a vote of 14 - 1 today. It now goes to the full Senate for consideration.
Under Ruff's legislation, tobacco buyout recipients in Southside and Southwest Virginia would be treated in a manner similar to peanut quota buyout recipients in Southeast Virginia who were granted the same relief in 2003.
In testifying before the committee Ruff said "these buyout programs acknowledge that the quotas that farm families own are assets. Under the federal buyout program, they are involuntarily losing that capital asset and the federal government is paying them for that loss.
"It should not be considered income anymore than if you were to receive a reimbursement check for an auto accident or reimbursements check for a hospital expense," Ruff argued before the committee.
Ruff represents the largest Virginia Senate district stretching along the North Carolina border and as far north as Fluvanna County. Representing the rural heartland of Virginia, Ruff has taken a lead in pursuing its interests as Chairman first of the Rural Prosperity Commission and now the Center for Rural Virginia. In addition, he serves as Chairman of the Education Committee of the Virginia Tobacco Commission.
For more information, contact Robbie McMillan.