Hochul administration zeroing in on expanded eligibility of farmworkers tax credit

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s top tax and farm officials have made progress on conversations exploring how to make a tax credit for farmworker overtime costs apply to more farming operations.

State Agriculture & Markets Commissioner Richard Ball told The Capitol Pressroom that his office is speaking daily with the state Department of Taxation & Finance about addressing the small number of farmers in New York that are ineligible for the tax credit. In vetoing an expansion of the tax credit last year, the governor made a commitment to have the two agencies work toward creating a tax credit covering all farms regardless of their business structure.

“We feel like we have a solution and looking forward to getting that done. We’re in the final stages of it,” Ball said. “Looks good. Feel very good about it.”

The full conversation is available below.

As to whether that solution can be done administratively or will require legislative action, the commissioner said, “I suspect there’s going to be some legislative introductions, the governor will weigh in and we’ll be able to get it done, compromising on the language.”

In testimony submitted to the legislature in January, the Northeast Dairy Producers Association said they were very concerned about the issue not being addressed in the governor’s initial budget proposal. The one-house budgets from the Democratic majorities in the Assembly and Senate included an expansion of the tax credit.

Following Ball’s comments on The Capitol Pressroom, the association said in a statement they were encouraged to hear a solution had been reached to expand access to the overtime tax credit. “We look forward to working with state legislators and Gov. Hochul to ensure a fix is included in the final enacted budget,” the group said.