News

A WOTUS redo and Estate Tax among top concerns for cattle producers

Many cattle producers have expressed concern that the Biden administration wants to bring back the 2015 Waters of the US rule.  Scott Yager chief environmental counsel for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association says they don’t expect a rewrite of the rule.  “The Biden administration can’t just make the 2015 rule come back,” he says.  “I suppose it is something they could do but it is something that would resoundingly fail.  That’s because several courts across the country have struck down the 2015 rule as illegal.”  But, he says they also don’t expect to leave the rollback of WOTUS untouched.  “They’re going to look at the 2015 rule and find parts that can survive a judicial challenge,” he says.  “And try and thread that needle between in a way that’s going to satisfy a 6-3 conservative majority Supreme Court.  Because we know that’s where this issue is going to end up.”

Danielle Beck, director of government affairs says it’s likely estate tax discussions will surface this year.  “Exemption levels do expire for the Death Tax in year 2026,” she says.  “We have the current relief that we have at least until 2025 if Congress doesn’t act, but it does it’s a revenue raiser that’s been discussed.  We at NCBA are working to be prepared for worst-case scenario.”

Yager and Beck made their remarks during the NCBA’s Cattle Industry Convention Winter Reboot.