President Joe Biden’s proposal to tax capital gains at death accounts for about one-third of the revenue to pay for his American Families Plan, a sweeping package of education, health and child care benefits. That’s according to an analysis of Biden’s tax proposals by the Tax Foundation.
 
The tax on inherited assets would raise $213 billion over 10 years. The revenue impact increases by year, reaching nearly $40 billion in 2031. 
 
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has called the proposal a “second estate tax.” Biden, however, sees it as critical to addressing wealth inequality in the U.S.
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NIH says rural areas critical to stopping new surge
 
Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health, tells Agri-Pulse that increasing vaccination rates in rural areas is critical to preventing a new surge of COVID-19 cases in the fall. But he says $1 billion in new funding for rural vaccination sites, including doctor’s offices and pop-up clinics, should help address distribution gaps. 
 
“I think a lot of people would feel better if they could call up their doctor and say, ‘Would you give me this vaccine?’ as opposed to you've got to drive a few miles and go to a drugstore,” Collin said. 
 
Why it matters: In an April survey, 30% of rural residents said they definitely won’t get the vaccine or would get it only if required. Another 38% said they would wait and see. If there is a new surge of cases this fall, it will hit hardest "the places where the immunization levels are the lowest,” Collins said. 
 
Canadian rail company flexes muscles by expanding grain car fleet
 
In an effort to become North America’s first railroad connecting Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, a Canadian rail company is expanding its railcar fleet by 1,000 high-capacity grain hopper cars. Canadian National Railway announced the move Friday.
 
“These cars will be manufactured in Mexico and will help move more grain across the CN rail network, which continues to make CN the embodiment of a true USMCA railroad,” CN President and CEO JJ Ruest said.
 
The 1,000-car order is part of a larger program by CN to renew 6,000 of its hopper railcars over the next three years. CN is currently in a bidding war with Canadian Pacific to purchase fellow Class I railroad KC Southern.
 
The merger is significant because it would be the first time one company owned a rail line connecting all three countries.
 
USTR talks environment, trade with Brazilian minister
 
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai on Friday continued her efforts to meet high-level officials from around the world as she conversed with the foreign affairs minister of Brazil, a country that frustrated her predecessors under the Trump administration by levying tariffs on U.S. ethanol.
 
Brazil is also the world’s largest soybean producing country that continues to expand production as critics point out the damage the country is doing to its wetlands and rainforest.
 
The Office of the USTR said Tai “expressed her interest in stronger cooperation with Brazil on labor, the environment, climate change, World Trade Organization reform, and challenges posed by non-market economies.”
 
Arkansas plant board to lose nine members
 
 The Arkansas State Plant Board has been ordered by the state’s Supreme Court to remove nine members appointed by groups representing ag retailers, seed dealers and crop dusters, among others.
 
The reserving of nine of the 16 voting seats on the board for “private industry” violates the state’s constitution, the court found in its opinion. The legislature recently addressed the issue by giving sole power to the governor to make appointments to the board, but that won’t go into effect until three months after the legislature adjourns.
 
The decision came in a case brought by farmers challenging the plant board’s authority to set a cutoff date for dicamba use. This year, it will be June 30, about a month later than the last two growing seasons.
 
 Read the Arkansas Supreme Court ruling here.
 
Impossible Burger to be served in schools in pilot program
 
USDA’s Child Nutrition Labeling Program has certified Impossible Foods’ meat alternative, giving the company the opportunity to serve its plant-based meat in schools around the country.
 
The plant-based Impossible Burger will be introduced this month in school systems in Palo Alto, Calif, Aberdeen, Wash., and Edmond and Union City, Okla.
 
 USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service granted Impossible a Child Nutrition label in the alternate protein category.
Michael Morris of Sodexo, one of the nation’s largest foodservice contractors, said “increasing plant-based menu options is a key part of our strategy to reduce carbon emissions by 34% by 2025. We are interested in how the popularity of this low-carbon food can help effectively lower a whole district’s carbon footprint, while also getting students more engaged in thinking about their connection to the planet.”
 
Questions? Tips? Contact Bill Tomson at Bill@Agri-Pulse.com.

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