AFBF backs estate tax amendment
The American Farm Bureau Federation backs an amendment to the small business lending bill that would permanently reform the federal estate tax and has asked Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), to allow the Senate to consider the proposal.
“This will give farmers and ranchers a better opportunity to continue food, fiber and fuel production and transfer family-owned operations from one generation to the next,” said AFBF President Bob Stallman.
In a letter sent today to Reid and copied to other members of the Senate, Stallman said Farm Bureau supports an amendment to the Small Business Jobs and Credit Act of 2010 (H.R. 5297), proposed by Sens. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), to permanently set the estate tax rate at 35 percent, with a $5 million exemption phased in over 10 years and indexed for inflation.
“Estate taxes can hit farm families harder than other small business owners because 84 percent of farm assets are real estate-based,” Stallman wrote. “When estate taxes are due, surviving family members without enough cash on hand may be forced to sell land, buildings or equipment they need to keep their operations going. Rural communities and businesses also suffer when farms and ranches downsize or disappear and farmland close to urban centers is often lost forever to development when estate taxes force farm families to sell off land to pay the taxes.”
If Congress does not act this year, the federal estate tax is scheduled to increase to 55 percent with only a $1 million exemption at the beginning of 2011.
