Springfield, Ill.-The governor’s office claims that the farm input sales tax exemption that includes fertilizer isn’t one of the “corporate loopholes” that may be eliminated now that the $8 billion gross receipts tax is all but dead in the state legislature. But agriculture interests aren’t so sure. The long-standing exemption reportedly was on the list prepared by Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s budget advisers, and when the word got out, hundreds of calls came into the capitol from retailers and farmers protesting the move. According to the Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Assn. (IFCA), Blagojevich’s advisers ?Çô looking for ways to fund universal health care and education ?Çô were eyeing the $77 million in new revenue from doing away with the tax breaks on fertilizer, seed, agrichemicals, and feed, as well as farm machinery used in production agriculture. They were also believed to be interested in another $175 million “loophole” if the sales exemption was eliminated on manufacturing equipment, which IFCA officials warn would also impact the fertilizer industry. IFCA President Jean Payne told Green Markets that after several days and a few hundred phone calls, the governor’s office tried to calm frazzled nerves by reporting there were no plans to remove the agricultural sales tax exemptions and the whole thing was just a “rumor.” “However,” Payne reported, “removal of the exemptions was clearly listed on a sheet from the Office of Management & Budget, which is part of the Blagojevich administration.” But as far as Payne is concerned, anything still could happen as the lawmakers and the governor continue their back-and-forth in the second month of legislative overtime, with no budget resolution in sight. She cautioned, “Obviously Blagojevich is intent upon some type of major tax increase, and the legislature is resisting.”
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