There’s an old adage, “You will need a doctor and a lawyer at least once in your life, but you will need a farmer every day.” Some Washington state lawmakers have forgotten that lesson.

In the just-completed session, legislators adopted an illegal capital gains income tax. Although supporters claimed it would only hit the super-rich, the definition would also impact famers. Recognizing this was a political problem, legislators created talking points to justify taxing farm families. The message they came up with is illuminating.

Among the possible talking points to support the passage of a capital gains income tax was the following statement: “If farmers and ranchers are able to make more than $250,000 in profit each year while working less than half time, they can afford to pay 7% on all profits above $250,000.”

The agricultural community spent much of this legislative session working to save the jobs of their employees and their businesses from state-mandated overtime pay in Senate Bill 5172. The bill targeted agricultural employers and requires all farmers and ranchers to begin paying time-and-a-half to their employees beginning Jan. 1, 2022 for every hour worked beyond 55 hours. Then, in 2023, time-and-a-half will be applied at 48 hours and at 40 hours in 2024. 

If, as the talking point claimed, farmers, ranchers, and their employees are putting in “less than half time” hours, why did our state have such an urgent need for this overtime legislation?

The agricultural community has seasonal swings in hours worked but no one could reasonably equate those swings to working “less than half time.” During peak spring and harvest times, farmers and their employees often record 65-hour work weeks, or longer depending upon the needs of the day. Livestock producers face similar demands during birthing and gathering seasons.

Even during the “slow” winter months, food producers continue to work but their focus shifts to continuing education, meetings, conferences, tax preparation, and other “office” tasks that have been intentionally put off.

Among those office tasks is determining how much in operating credit will be necessary for the following year. Despite the notion that the agricultural community is wealthy, liquid assets are often hard to come by and a great many farmers and ranchers rely on annual operating loans from banks and credit unions.

Our state is unique in its ability to support a vast array of food production. Farmers and ranchers in Washington state grow or raise more than 300 food products, making us one of the most diverse agricultural states in the nation. Our farms and ranches bring in more than $20 billion in annual economic revenue and provide more than 164,000 jobs to the people of Washington.

Yet, farmers, ranchers, and their employees are treated as though their voices, their effort do not matter. Whether it is going to a local farmers’ market, buying asparagus at the grocery store, or picking up a ribeye to throw on the grill over the weekend, there is a person who was involved in every step bringing that item to a consumer. They are people with families, bills, and worries just like the person sitting down to eat what that farmer or rancher has provided for them.

When lawmakers use misinformation to rule and craft laws that negatively effect agricultural communities, all communities suffer the consequences of those choices.