NFO Joins Oil Tax Opposition
MADISON, WI, May 14, 2009…..The National Farmers Organization (NFO) has added its voice to those of agricultural interests opposing the oil company gross receipts tax proposed in the state budget bill, Wisconsin NFO and Cooperative Network announced Thursday.
"The Wisconsin NFO is strongly opposed to the oil gross receipts tax and recognizes the harm that it could do to our rural communities,” said Don Hamm, Wisconsin NFO President. “We are anxious to partner with the other organizations in our efforts against this budget provision."
Cooperative Network President and CEO Bill Oemichen said he was “glad to have NFO Wisconsin, an important voice for the farming community, weighing in to oppose this tax that would damage the rural economy.”
Other farm groups registering opposition to the tax proposal include Wisconsin Farmers Union and the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation, along with Cooperative Network (the former Wisconsin Federation of Cooperatives), which launched a series of paid advertisements and grassroots legislative contacts this spring.
Cooperative Network maintains the tax would eat up patronage cash distributions to members of co-ops that sell motor fuel, impair co-ops’ ability to retire member equity, drain tens of millions of dollars out of the rural Wisconsin economy, reduce economic development and consumer spending and hamper economic recovery.
The NFO is a group marketing and bargaining organization for U.S. farmers, ranchers and dairy producers. |
