In a letter to Senate leaders, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) has joined with 27 other agricultural groups in a unified call for permanent and meaningful estate tax relief for America’s farm and ranch families.
“We support permanently raising the exemption to no less than $5 million per person and reducing the top rate to no more than 35 percent,” the organizations stated. “It is also imperative that the exemption be indexed to inflation, provide for spousal transfers and include the stepped-up basis.
“Family farmers and ranchers are not only the caretakers of our nation’s rural lands but they are small businesses too,” the groups stated. “The 2011 change to the estate tax law does a disservice to agriculture because we are a land-based capital-intensive industry with few options for paying estate taxes when they come due. The current state of our economy, coupled with the uncertain nature of estate tax liabilities make it difficult for family-owned farms and ranches to make sound business decisions.”
The groups urged Congress to immediately pass permanent estate tax reform, which they stated “provides the greatest relief and certainty for agriculture” and helps “strengthen the business climate for family farmers, ranchers and growers while ensuring agricultural businesses are passed to future generations.”
In addition to AFBF, the letter was signed by: American Farmland Trust; American Mushroom Institute; American Sheep Industry Association; American Soybean Association; American Sugar Alliance; Farm Credit Council; National Association of Wheat Growers; National Cattlemen’s Beef Association; National Corn Growers Association; National Cotton Council; National Council of Farmer Cooperatives; National Farmers Union; National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry; National Milk Producer Federation; National Pork Producers Council; National Potato Council; National Turkey Federation; Northwest Dairy Association; Public Lands Council; Southeast Dairy Farmers Association; Southeast Milk Inc.; United Egg Producers; United Fresh Produce Association; United Producers; U.S. Apple Association; U.S.A. Rice Federation; Western Growers Association; and Western United Dairymen..