Is Tobacco Buyout Finally Charmed?

Source from:  Henderson (NC) Dispatch 06/17/2004

To mix agricultural terms and metaphors, it's far too soon for tobacco farmers to be counting their chickens. But a federal leaf quota buyout is probably closer than ever to hatching. The House Ways and Means Committee voted 27-9 Monday night to send the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 to the floor. Among the more than 400 pages of that bill - which is intended to restructure corporate taxes - is a provision called the Fair and Equitable Tobacco Reform Act of 2004. And that act, which would provide a $10 per-pound buyout of the tobacco quota, made it through committee intact. The bill would eliminate federal control of tobacco production and prices through a $9.6 billion buyout over the next five years. Quota holders would be paid $7 per pound of 2002 quota, growers-only would receive $3 per pound, and those who grow their own quota would receive the full $10 per pound on 2002's quota. Most of the $9.6 billion would be funneled to North Carolina, the nation's leading producer of tobacco. And clearly, we need it. Making matters better, the bill - if it survives as-is - would not affect Phase 2 payments to growers under the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement. That in effect adds another $3.2 billion worth of those payments to the buyout's overall benefits. Passage of the buyout is hardly guaranteed. Any legislation that passes committee remains very much subject to change. But the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 carries enough clout in a jobs-poor economy, and enough worthwhile pot-sweeteners for legislators from other parts of the country, for this bill to stand a real chance. Finally, perhaps, the tobacco buyout found the right legislation on which to piggyback. North Carolina will take it, pretty much however we can get it. Enditem