Agricultural News
John Boehner Includes Death Tax relief at Current Levels in His Plan B for the Fiscal Cliff
Wed, 19 Dec 2012 20:30:26 CST
House Speaker John Boehner has pulled out "Plan B" in the continuing Fiscal Cliff talks- and while there is no Five Year Farm Bill included in this plan- there is extension of the current level of Estate Tax law, which most advocates of getting rid of the so called Death Tax in agriculture believe is about as good as can be hoped for at this point in the negotiations between the White House and the House Republicans.
The "Plan B" legislation would extend current tax rates on income under $1 million, offer a permanent fix for the alternative minimum tax, and keep estate tax rates at 35 percent, with a $5 million exemption. It would not address many other aspects of the combination of tax hikes and spending cuts known as the "fiscal cliff."
Bob Young, Senior Economist for the American Farm Bureau, says that it could be a tremendous problem for US agriculture to see Estate Tax rates revert back to a million dollar exemption and a 55% tax rate on everything above that. Farmland values have skyrocketed in recent years- and that means even a modest sized farm operation quickly gets above the million dollar threshold.
Meanwhile Young expressed his disappointment that efforts to package a farm bill in an end of the year Fiscal Cliff deal have failed(at least for now), adding that causes lots of problems- especially if no extension can be put in place.
We have a special audio overview of Young's comments on the Estate Tax aspects of the Plan B from Speaker Boehner- click on the Listen Bar below to take a listen.
And if you have interest in seeing what the Boehner Plan B has in it- click here.
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