The Food and Rural Economics Division of ERS designed the following series of policy-oriented, timely publications to provide background and analysis for decision makers and others.

Several proposals calling for fundamental reform of the Federal income tax system have been put forth, including a report by the co-chairs of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility. The primary elements of reform—eliminating tax preferences, restructuring capital gains and dividend...

The earned income tax credit (EITC) has become a major source of income support for low-income rural workers and their families, especially in the South, where the rural poor are concentrated. Program benefits for rural areas are expected to total about $6 billion in 1996, nearly double the 1992...

Concern among policymakers that the Federal estate tax might force the liquidation of some family farms has resulted in the enactment of a variety of special provisions over the years. Providing relief to farmers and other small business owners was the primary impetus for the 1997 changes to...

This project examines Section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code and agriculture land exchanges. Stakeholders in rural communities and agriculture are particularly interested in Section 1031 because the recent growth in transaction values of farmland may have, in part, been stimulated by Section...

This report analyzes the effects of the current Federal tax code on farming and evaluates tax proposals to assist beginning farmers. Investment, management, and production decisions in agriculture continue to be influenced by Federal tax laws. Farmers continue to benefit from both Federal income...

Under the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, most farmers will pay less Federal income tax, and farm families will find it easier to transfer the family farm across generations. The new law--the tax portion of 1997 legislation to balance the Federal budget by 2002--emerges from years of debate on...