Was that kind of the big- biggest misconception after this was announced?

Yeah, well, I think, I think, yeah, on October 5th when the president gave the executive order and that information came out, he used some words that were a little different than what the, necessarily the, the executive order was.

And so, um, you know, those taxes on the federal side were certainly a deferral.

Our other problem we had was, and a lot of states across the country had, was that there was nothing, um, done yet at the state level.

And so a federal order, of course, at that point in time doesn't mean you can do anything in the state until the state does something.

And then, um, you know, then the state came out and said that they were gonna def- um, basically suspend the penalties for the use of red dye diesel and, and the, uh, enforcement of it.

Uh, and so then there's some choices whether our members and farmers across the state of Illinois and also, uh, truly people, anybody hauling agriculture commodities or products as, as both executive orders would align to that terminology, whether they use the red dye diesel or not use the red dye diesel.

And I know one of the other big questions was what happens after December 31st if you still have dyed diesel in your tank? Because the, both the state and federal executive orders run through December the 31st, right? You were getting questions about that?

Rodney Knittel is Associate Director of Transportation and Infrastructure at Illinois Farm Bureau, was in studio yesterday

The executive order clearly states that that is a tax deferment, and so what that means is that, that there has to be a legislation action to occur for the tax to be forgiven, and so that would have to happen legislatively for the tax to be forgiven.

So you're still looking at, if you use red dye diesel, which we'll, we'll get, get into our recommendation, you would still be required to pay the tax after January 1st 'cause it's, the executive order is from October 5th to December 31st.

And so sometime after December 31st, you're gonna be l- still liable, uh, the way we read the executive order for that tax, because it would take, unless legislation action has been occurred, then that would be the only way that the tax could be waved or forgiven.

Deferred is different than waived, is what, what you're getting at?

Absolutely different.

There's two d- there's, those, those two words are certainly have two different definitions.

One would mean that you don't have to pay it at all, and deferred means that at some time someone is liable for that tax, and the way it's currently read, it takes legislation action both at the state level or the federal level for a tax to be forgiven because they are in statute.

Yeah.

I mean, all of our equipment, tractors, all those equipment are being used by red dye diesel because, to explain as well, is, is that there is no excise tax on the red dye diesel, no federal, uh, excise tax or the state excise tax or what's called the motor fuel tax is not added to the r- red dye diesel because that u- money is to be used for, uh, road construction and so not taxed on the red dye diesel or the off-highway fuel.

The, the, the president was at a rally in Nebraska, and he made an announcement related to red dye fuel.

Yep.

So he, he made an announcement last night that, um, he used the word waived, uh, diesel fuel, um, that they can use the, the red dye diesel.

Uh, but that does not mean, as, as we read and got into it last night and this morning into the executive order, the executive order clearly states that that is a tax deferment.

And so what that means is that, that there has to be a legislation action to occur for the tax to be forgiven.

And so that would have to happen legislatively for the tax to be forgiven.