IARN — House Ag Committee Ranking Member GT Thompson of Pennsylvania says the elimination of stepped-up basis would result in the loss of many farms across the nation, including Iowa.
Thompson stopped by the Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network’s booth at the 2021 Iowa State Fair to address concerns that the Biden Administration is proposing to repeal the stepped-up basis tax policy, which adjusts the cost basis of an inherited asset when it is passed on in death.
Thompson says a recent study from Texas A&M’s Agriculture and Food Policy Center found that stepped-up basis changes would impact 98% of family farms and impose an additional tax liability of over one million dollars on farms in the Midwest.
“We’ve thrown some grit and sand in the gears of the Biden Administration on this proposal,” said Thompson. “We reached across the Capitol to Senator John Boozman who is the Ranking Member on the Senate Agriculture Committee. Together, we sent this request to Texas A&M’s Agriculture and Food Policy Center. They are a great group and are known to do great analysis on agriculture and rural America.”
“The question is, how much of a farm operation do you have to sell off to get $1.4 million to buy your family farm back from the government and still have a farm at the end of the day?”
President Biden originally introduced his plan to do away with the stepped-up basis as a means to help pay for his infrastructure plan.
A 4th generation farmer with the American Farm Bureau recently told reporters that scrapping the important tax provision would prevent him from passing on his farm to the 5th generation.
Story courtesy of the Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network.
Pictured: House Ag Committee Ranking Member GT Thompson (Photo by Brent Barnett)
