Activating Farmers to Encourage Congress to Fix a Tax Loophole

State of Play

Lawmakers accidentally included a loophole within a tax reform law that allowed farmers to take a 20 percent tax deduction on crops sold to farmer-owned cooperatives. Still, the same deduction didn’t apply for sales to their privately owned competitors. The “grain glitch” gifted cooperatives a massive advantage and threatened to bankrupt private businesses ranging from small mom-and-pop-owned grain elevators to large agriculture companies. Time was of the essence, as a fix needed to be included in an upcoming spending bill before the provision could take effect. The Narrative team had only a few weeks to devise and execute a winning strategy.

BY THE NUMBERS

stories & media

placement

One Month

to effect change

200

in-person contacts with lawmakers

action

Narrative developed and implemented a targeted media and grassroots campaign to encourage lawmakers in key states and districts across the country to close the grain glitch loophole in the upcoming spending bill.

Media Outreach – Devised and executed a targeted media campaign that resulted in the publication of 54 stories about the harmful effects of the grain glitch in a matter of weeks. Members of our team worked tirelessly to draft op-eds and pitch stories that ran in a wide range of outlets, including national newspapers like The New York Times, influential beltway publications like POLITICO and The Hill, and local media outlets in key states and districts like the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and The Forum of Fargo Moorhead.

Grasstops Activation – Recruited and activated a diverse network of grasstops activists from the Midwest and Great Plains. Our work generated over 200 in-person contacts, letters to the editor, op-eds, and phone calls from community leaders targeting members of Congress and urging them to support a fix for the grain glitch.

Digital Campaign – Launched a digital campaign that communicated with key policymakers and influencers both inside the Beltway and at key events such as a national agricultural conference.

impact

Even though many Democratic members of Congress were hesitant to support amending a tax law they didn’t vote for, several Democrats from agricultural states voted for a fix after learning about the issue through the media and their constituents. The “grain glitch” fix was included in the subsequent omnibus spending bill before the mistaken provision could be implemented, allowing privately owned grain companies and cooperatives to compete in a fair market going forward.

Case Study