By Emmy Powell
Communications Specialist
Repeal is the most effective way to protect family-run businesses from the estate tax, according to Farm Bureau and more than 50 other organizations.
The groups, along with the Family Business Estate Tax Coalition, recently sent a letter to Congress expressing opposition to the death tax.
The estate tax, also known as the death tax, is a tax on the right to transfer property at death. It takes into account everything the deceased owned or certain interests at the date of death.
The letter was sent to U.S. Reps. Randy Feenstra and Sanford Bishop, who introduced the Death Tax Repeal Act in the U.S. House.
“Farm Bureau has long been opposed to any type of estate tax, and this particular bill would take the estate tax completely off the books,” Dustin Sherer, American Farm Bureau Federation director of Government Affairs, said.
The coalition includes groups that represent agriculture and various businesses and industries, showing this tax issue impacts the overall economy.
“It’s very indicative of how important it is to small, privately held, family-owned businesses, farms, ranches,” Sherer said. “The estate tax is oftentimes talked about only with reference to somebody with a farm or ranch trying to pass down a business from one generation to the next. But you apply those same principles to a family-owned small business that manufactures products or a family-owned construction company.”
AFBF and Texas Farm Bureau have opposed the estate tax for years.
“This particular tax makes it very difficult to transition a business from one generation to the next, which in many cases is all families want to do is keep the family in the business. It’s provided for the family over the course of one generation. They want to make sure that it’s there for the next,” Sherer said.
In the letter, the Family Business Estate Tax Coalition noted it supported the temporary estate tax relief in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which doubled the exemption to about $12.9 million for 2023 and indexed future increases for inflation through 2025.
“These changes represent significant relief to family-owned businesses from the estate tax. However, without further Congressional action, the temporary increase in the exemption amount will expire at the end of 2024, increasing uncertainty and planning costs,” the letter said. “The FBETC continues to believe that repeal is the best solution to protect all family-owned businesses from the estate tax.”
Thank you for opposing this tax on the farmer and ranchers.
Farm and Ranch land that is sold to pay taxes such as the death tax rarely go back into production of food and fiber. Most are split up into small tracts by developers and thus are taken out of productive agricultural production. Thank you for supporting this legislation to repeal this tax and keep family run farms and ranches producing food and fiber for generations to come!