Estate tax increase

Farm Bureau is urging Congress to pass legislation blocking a recent IRS proposal that would result in higher estate taxes for farmers and ranchers. The IRS' plan for more restrictive rules for using valuation discounts would make it more difficult for farmers and ranchers who operate family-owned partnerships, LLCs or corporations to transfer their farms and ranches to the next generation. 

The Protect Family Farms and Businesses Act (H.R. 6100 and S. 3436), introduced in the House by Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) and in the Senate by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), would stop the IRS from implementing its proposed restrictive estate tax discount valuation. 

"Individuals, family partnerships and family corporations own over 97 percent of our nation's over two million farms and ranches. Farm Bureau believes that America values these family-owned farms and ranches because of the food, fiber, and fuel they produce; the contribution that agriculture makes to job creation and the economy; and the open space that farming and ranching protects," American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall wrote in letters thanking Davidson and Rubio for introducing the bills. 

In addition to calling for congressional action, Farm Bureau is also urging farmers and ranchers to tell the IRS how the proposed changes could impose significant new tax costs onto their family-owned businesses and threaten the ability of families to pass businesses on to the next generation.