Forsyth, Georgia – The governor of Georgia signed a law on Thursday to exempt federal harvest insurance and disaster payments later Hurricane Helene Damage for income taxes of the State of Georgia, but could spend more months before some federal money begins to flow to farmers in the most affected states.
The United States Department of Agriculture published a schedule on Wednesday to begin disburseing disaster aid, part of a $ 100 billion package approved by Congress in December.
The September storm cut a strip of the great curve of Florida in East Georgia and the north of the state of South Carolina before causing historical floods in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee.
Helene is the Seventh more expensive disaster In the United States since 1980, causing an estimated $ 78 billion in damages and 219 deaths.
Officials have estimated that Helene caused billions in property and economic damage to agriculture, including $ 5.5 billion in Georgia and $ 4.9 billion in North Carolina.
Federal officials in March began to deliver $ 10 billion designated at the farmers’ bill throughout the country harmed by low prices of crops and high fertilizer prices. But billions were reserved for farmers damaged by Helene and other natural disasters in 2023 and 2024.
The United States Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, was interrogated on the term of Tuesday by legislators, including the American Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia. He told Rollins that “time is essential.”
“I’ve seen first -hand devastation,” Rollins said. “It’s heartbreaking witness.”
Some farmers have immersed themselves in savings to pay losses not covered by insurance. Others have unpaid debts last year, which restricts loans to the 2025 plant crops. Some have sold equipment or land to generate cash.
The schedule shows that federal officials will open applications for a help in stages from May 30 to September 15. But states have to negotiate plans to distribute another help through block subsidies. If state and federal officials agree on a plan for May 28, block subsidies will end before June 13, federal officials said. If the agreements can be reached on June 13, they would end before June 30. After that, states must give the money.
The Georgia Agriculture Commissioner, Tyler Harper, said Thursday that he did not know how much money Georgia would get in block subsidies. He said if the State made the deadline of May 28 “depends on how our negotiations go with the USDA during the next two weeks.”
On Thursday Kemp signed tax exemptions for farmers and wood owners harmed by Helene that could be worth almost $ 300 million.
“Farmers operate with extremely tight margins, and to rebuild a storm of this magnitude could be impossible for some,” Kemp said at the headquarters of the Georgia forest association in Forsyth, saying that Helene was “a storm like no other in the state.”
Tax exemptions are at the top of $ 867 million in expenses that Georgia legislators were previously assigned For Hurricane Helene Relief .
The law exempts federal payments to farmers due to Helene of income taxes of the State of Georgia. That could be worth $ 140 million.
Georgia’s law also allows Timberland’s private owners to claim a credit for damaged wood on state tax taxes if they replace trees. Timberland’s tax exemption could be worth $ 83 million to $ 104 million to 2030, according to estimates.
Another tax exemption resign from taxes on state and local sales on construction materials to rebuild chickens, barns and fences.
A fourth program allows counties to renounce taxes when wood owners reduce trees for 15 months. Any county that renounces taxes would reimburse any tax collected since October 1. The State could spend $ 17.4 million to reimburse the lost tax money of the counties.
Georgia legislators previously approved $ 285 million for low -interest loans to farmers and to eliminate fallen private lands so that they do not become a fire danger. There are also $ 25 million in subsidies to non -profit organizations that are supposed to help people.
In South Carolina, Republican legislative leaders are discussing hundreds of millions in Helene Relief as part of the State Budget. North Carolina Legislators agreed a $ 524 million The supplementary relief of Helene in March, partly to provide more funds for agricultural needs. It was the fourth help package of Helene of North Carolina.
