Iowa Farm Bureau President Craig Lang is back in Iowa after a trip to Washington, D-C last week as a panelist at President George Bush’s conference on the economy. He says the panel he was on talked about regulatory burden, and he spoke about the “Death Tax” (inheritance tax) and the hidden costs that farmers spend every year trying to minimize the death tax. He also talked about the regulatory burdens in raising livestock and crops. Lang says many of the issues discussed are some of the same things the state is working on. He says health care and education attainment are examples. He says the need to spend enough to get the educational attainment we want and trying to get equitable health care. Lang says the regulartory costs are a big issue that eventually impacts everyone. He says a number of years ago when they first tried to get rid of the subsidies to agriculture, a few of the things that were promised were freeing up world trade and opening new markets. He says that has not happened and we need to continue pushing toward reducing the regulatory burden on citizens. Lang says they’re not talking about wiping out all regulations. He says they don’t want to do away with the regulations that have a cost benefit. He says they need to look at the regulations and sunset the ones that don’t have a benefit for producers and consumers either one. Lang says now that President Bush has won a second term, he expects the President to work hard on these issues.
