New Bill Would Give Hemp Businesses A Boost And Require Studies Into Alternative Uses For The Crop
Source: marijuanamoment.net
A congressman introduced a bill on Friday that would create a variety of programs and grants to help people enter the hemp industry and build their businesses. It would also require a federal study into potential alternative uses for the crop as well as challenges faced by the market.
Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA) filed the Hemp Opportunity Zone Act. As the title implies, the main component of the legislation clarifies that farmers who cultivate the crop can receive tax benefits if they operate in an area designated as an “opportunity zone” by the Treasury Department.
Opportunity zones are census-designated low-income areas that are considered economically distressed. The governor of a state can make the designation, and Treasury then decides whether to certify it. The program is designed to promote investments in communities that might typically be overlooked by allowing investors to defer capital gains taxes if they put money into an opportunity zone business.
“We are reviewing the legislation now, but if it indeed serves to open up investment in hard-hit farming and small business communities, it would be welcome relief for an industry that has been struggling through the COVID pandemic and federal burdens imposed by FDA, USDA and now the DEA,” Jonathan Miller, general counsel for the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, told Marijuana Moment.
In addition to clarifying eligibility for hemp-focused businesses, Riggleman’s new bill would also create a “hemp farmer start-up tax credit” equal to 10 percent of the cash rent paid for land used for production or 15 percent of the “crop share rent so paid by the taxpayer.” To be eligible, farmers would need to have less than $25 million in gross receipts for the last taxable year.
The Hemp Opportunity Zone Act is a huge win for farmers in #VA05. Hemp farming is a new and thriving industry. By providing these tax incentives hemp growers in Virginia and the 5th District are primed to lead based on their historic production of tobacco. https://t.co/LncEw7SQsS
The legislation would further establish a “small hemp farmer credit” that would enable businesses with less than $250,000 in gross receipts for the previous taxable year to obtain a credit “equal to 30 percent of the basis of hemp farming property placed in service.”
“Hemp farming is a new and thriving industry,” Riggleman, who lost his primary renomination bid this year and only has a few months left in Congress, said. “By providing these tax incentives hemp growers in Virginia and the 5th District are primed to lead based on their historic production of tobacco.”
The report would look at opportunities to use hemp seeds in animal feed, the potential use of hemp products as protective equipment for medical workers and first responders and the “feasibility” of certain USDA regulations for the market.
Certain questions the study would address concern complaints industry stakeholders have made about USDA’s interim final rule for the crop. Treasury and USDA would have to consider the department’s hemp sampling requirements and its 0.3 THC limit for the crop.
The agencies would also have to explore how the U.S. competes “globally with other countries that have a 1.0 percent THC limitation.” The bill states that the study should additionally consider the potential benefits of including hemp-based food items in “certain public school meal plans” and whether any items used by the federal government or its contractors “can be substituted by a hemp-based product.”
Read the text of the Hemp Opportunity Zone Act at the following link:
