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Thursday, March 12, 2015

Maryland Chicken Tax Bill - Please Contact Legislators Today

Joe - I didn't know if this would be of interest to you for the blog. While reading the letter, I was very surprised to read that if this tax bill is approved, it will destroy the cover crop program for those that don't have chicken houses. I'm not sure of the actual number of farmers with chicken houses compared to the number of farmers without chicken houses but I feel sure that the number of farmers with out chicken houses is much greater.  

Tomorrow, on Friday March 13, the Maryland House of Delegates Environment and Transportation Committee will hold a hearing on HB 886, the Chicken Tax bill that will require the chicken companies to pay a five cent per bird tax to the state of Maryland for every chicken they place in Maryland chicken houses.

In addition to being a $15 million per year tax on five companies, the bill as written will destroy the state’s farmland cover crop program. 

The Chicken Tax money will fund the Maryland Department of Agriculture cover crop program only on farms where chicken manure has been applied.  Farms that have not used chicken manure no longer will be eligible for the cover crop cost-share money through the Maryland Bay Restoration Fund.  This change will destroy what the environmental industry calls the most effective on-the-farm Best Management Practice for Chesapeake Bay water quality improvement.

Please take a few minutes today to e-mail or call and leave messages for key committee members to show your opposition to HB 886.  Identify yourself as a chicken grower and that you are opposed to HB 886.

Thanks

kumar.barve@house.state.md.us                Committee chair            410-841-3990
dana.stein@house.state.md.us                    Committee vice chair     410-841-3527
pamela.beidle@house.state.md.us                                                    410-841-3370               
alfred.carr@house.state.md.us                   HB 886 sponsor            410-841-3638
david.fraser.hidalgo@house.state.md.us                                           410-841-3186               
barbara.frush@house.state.md.us              HB 886 sponsor            410-841-3114               
jim.gilchrist@house.state.md.us                                                       410-841-3744     
anne.healey@house.state.md.us                                                        410-841-3961               
marvin.holmes@house.state.md.us                                                   410-841-3310               
tony.Knotts@house.state.md.us                                                       410-841-3212               
stephen.lafferty@house.state.md.us                                                 410-841-3487     
clarence.Lam@house.state.md.us                                                     410-841-3205               
cory.McCray@house.state.md.us                                                     410-841-3486               
shane.robinson@house.state.md.us            HB 886 sponsor            410-841-3021               

4 comments:

  1. So, in order to qualify for cover crop money, ALL us farmers should start using chicken manure? Hey, I'm all for it! If there's not enough for all the fields, we can import it! Chicken$h!t on every farmed field!

    ReplyDelete
  2. If you don't have chickens you must be getting paid to not farm your land. Maybe getting paid to plant trees.

    ReplyDelete
  3. What about the elected school board?

    ReplyDelete
  4. About time these multi billion dollar poultry companies pay for the disposal of their dead chickens and manure-not the taxpayers.

    ReplyDelete

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