Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 11/3/17

The sweeping tax-reform legislation that House Republicans unveiled Thursday received lukewarm reviews from agricultural industry groups as they tried to analyze the potential effect on farmers' tax rates. 

American Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall endorsed proposals to expand immediate expensing, maintain the business-interest deduction and eventually eliminate the estate tax. The bill would double the estate tax exemption to roughly $11 million, from $5.49 million, meaning only families with estates valued above that amount would have to pay a levy on large inheritance. The tax would be eliminated after six years.

But National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson said the group opposed the "overarching elements" of the plan, including repealing the estate tax, because it would shift the country's tax burden from the top earners to the middle class. Johnson also lamented that the tax overhaul would add an estimated $1.5 trillion to the federal deficit. 

Another proposal that drew immediate opposition: repealing the Section 199 deduction for manufacturers. As a result, the millions of dollars in benefits that agricultural cooperatives typically pass on to their members would be lost, said Chuck Conner, president and CEO of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives. For a full run-down of what the House tax overhaul has to offer, read this from the Pro Tax's Brian Faler.