From time to time my office distributes press releases and written statements on state and national issues, debate in the Senate, and legislation that I am working on. For your convenience, I post these documents on my site for your review.
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Sessions Introduces Legislation to Provide Tax Relief to Private Timber Owners
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) yesterday introduced legislation that would allow non-industrial timber owners to average out the income received from the sale of their timber over three years, thereby making them eligible for lower capital gains tax rates.
Non-industrial timber owners are those individuals who own relatively small tracts of timber and typically only harvest trees once or twice in a lifetime. Since these private owners do not rely on their timber for their annual income, when they do sell it, they fall under a different tax bracket and pay a higher percentage in capital gains taxes.
Sessions’ legislation will allow timber owners to qualify for a tax break under a current law that allows income averaging for farmers and fishermen.
“Allowing timber owners to use income averaging that is currently enjoyed by farmers and fishermen will ensure that small landowners will not be penalized because of the unique nature of their business,” said Sessions. “Since a large portion of our state’s timber is privately owned and private owners usually sell their timber for important life events such as paying for college or unexpected medical treatments, this bill will help many Alabamian avoid excessive capital gains taxes.”
Sessions’ introduced a similar bill in the 109th Congress. The legislation will possibly be included as part of the farm bill.
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