Please join me as a co-sponsor of legislation to provide tax relief for fencing materials and supplies used for agricultural purposes.  This legislation would provide a one-time, six-month sales tax holiday for this fencing material as part of an effort to eventually establish a full sales tax exemption.
 
This issue was brought to my attention by a constituent who was denied a sales tax exemption for temporary fencing supplies he purchased for use on his family farm.  Temporary fencing generally consists of small step-in posts and single-strand high tensile wire that is often moved from pasture to pasture every few days, then taken up and stored at the end of the season.  Current law already exempts “tangible personal property or services which are directly used in farming, dairying or agriculture;” however, the Department of Revenue does not consider agricultural fences used directly in a farming operation as exempt from sales tax.  Despite attempts to correct this misapplication of the current law with the department, they continue to reject the exemption for both permanently affixed and temporary agricultural fencing. 
 
Agriculture is Pennsylvania’s number one industry, contributing over $135 billion (about 18%) of the Commonwealth’s economy, supporting over half a million jobs.  Farmers have faced extraordinary challenges in recent times with volatile commodity prices and supply chain issues in addition to all the typical variables that traditionally come with farming.  By providing this relief from sales tax for fencing purchased for agricultural use, we can make our tax code consistent as it relates to other farm-related allowable sales tax exemptions and help our farmers be successful.
 
Please join me in co-sponsoring this legislation to provide a sales tax holiday to our farmers who purchase fencing for agricultural purposes.