ATLANTA (AP) -- Georgia lawmakers on Friday approved tax breaks for farmers and timber owners harmed by Hurricane Helene that could be worth nearly $300 million.
House members voted unanimously to send the bill to Gov. Brian Kemp for his approval.
"This is a part of the Hurricane Helene recovery package that specifically addresses issues for farmers and foresters," said House Majority Whip James Burchett, a Republican from Waycross.
The tax breaks come on top of $862 million in spending that Georgia lawmakers earlier allotted for Hurricane Helene relief after the storm caused billions of dollars in damage when it cut across the eastern half of the state in September.
The bill would exempt federal crop insurance and disaster payments to farmers because of Helene damage from Georgia state income taxes. That could be worth $140 million.
Farmers in Georgia are already collecting hundreds of millions in crop insurance payments. Georgia officials estimate the state's farmers are also likely to collect $2.4 billion in federal disaster relief payments from the $30.8 billion allocated to cover disaster losses in a December law passed by Congress.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture this week began accepting applications for $10 billion in aid to farmers nationwide due to losses suffered because of rising fertilizer prices and lower prices for crops, meeting a deadline imposed by Congress and cited last week in Atlanta by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. But the department has not yet disbursed any of the other aid despite rising frustration among farmers.
Georgia's bill would also let private timberland owners claim a credit on their state income taxes for damaged timber if they replant trees. The credit, available in 66 disaster-area counties, would be good for up to $550 per acre. The timberland tax break could be worth $83 million to $104 million through 2030, estimates show.
Another tax break would waive state and local sales taxes on building materials needed to rebuild chicken houses, barns, fences and other structures.
A fourth program would let counties waive the taxes they collect when timberland owners cut down trees for the last three months of 2024 and all of 2025. Any county that chooses to waive taxes would refund any taxes collected since Oct. 1. The state would spend an estimated $17.4 million to replace counties' lost tax money.
"When you go from Valdosta to Augusta, it's pretty devastating," said Sen. Russ Goodman, a Republican from Cogdell. "You've got not only these folks who have lost their inheritance, or their children's inheritance, or their retirement and everything else. But you've got to look at what it means to the local community as far as losing all the revenue because the timber crop was destroyed."
Georgia lawmakers earlier this month approved $285 million for low-interest loans to farmers and to remove downed trees from private lands so they don't become a fire hazard. There's also $25 million in grants to nonprofits that are supposed to go to help individuals.
