President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill into law July 4. The bill encompasses all of NCBA’s tax priorities and numerous farm bill provisions.
Tax priorities
- Death tax: The bill increases the death tax exemption to $15 million per individual or $30 million per couple, adjusted annually for inflation. This means if the value of a farm or ranch plus equipment, cattle and other assets is less than $15 million individually or $30 million as a couple, the producer will pay no death tax. NCBA supports fully eliminating the death tax, but until then, this increased threshold is a huge victory for protecting more family farms and ranches than ever before.
- Section 199A: This small business tax deduction is made permanent at 20% by the bill. Section 199A allows small businesses, like family farms and ranches, to deduct 20% of their business income, helping them save more of their hard-earned money.
- Section 179: This tax provision allows small businesses to deduct the cost of equipment. With the signing of the bill, farmers and ranchers now will be able to deduct up to $2.5 million in qualified equipment expenses. The phaseout threshold for this deduction is increased to $4 million and these limits will be adjusted annually for inflation.
- Bonus depreciation: Bonus depreciation allows small business owners to subtract the cost of equipment upfront, rather than deducting depreciation over several years. Under this bill, 100% bonus depreciation is made permanent.
- Disaster-related casualty loss: The bill permanently extends itemized deductions for personal casualty losses resulting from federally declared disasters. This is an extension of the Federal Disaster Tax Relief Act, which previously was supported by NCBA and enacted in December 2024.
Farm bill provisions
- Livestock Forage Disaster Program: The bill increases payments to two monthly installments for the Livestock Forage Disaster Program. It also expands the program by allowing it to kick in after four consecutive weeks of drought, rather than the previous eight.
- Livestock Indemnity Program: The bill funds indemnity payments at 100% of the market value for livestock losses due to predation and 75% of the market value for losses due to adverse weather. Additionally, there will be payments made for the loss of unborn livestock.
- Voluntary conservation programs: The bill funds several voluntary conservation programs for six years, including:
- $18.5 billion for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program
- $8.1 billion for the Conservation Stewardship Program
- $4.1 billion for the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program
- $2.7 billion for the Regional Conservation Partnership Program
- Animal disease prevention: The bill increases funding for animal disease prevention and cattle health to $233 million per year. This funding goes toward the “three-legged stool” programs that NCBA supports, with $153 million going to the National Animal Vaccine and Veterinary Countermeasures Bank, $70 million going to the National Animal Health Laboratory Network, and $10 million going to the National Animal Disease Preparedness and Response Program.
The One Big Beautiful Bill does not include controversial provisions to sell public lands or expand eminent domain.
