Ag News

Biden plan to protect farms from elimination of capital gains tax breaks

IARN — Ahead of Wednesday night’s joint session of Congress address by President Joe Biden, the White House released details of the American Families Plan. The bulk of the $1.8 trillion package focuses on education, direct support to low- and middle-income families, and extending tax breaks to families with children. Biden plans to end other tax breaks to pay for the package, including stepped-up basis. However, Biden says, “The reform will be designed with protections so that family-owned businesses and farms will not have to pay taxes when given to heirs who continue to run the business.”

American Farm Bureau Federation Economist Veronica Nigh recently explained, “A long-standing provision of U.S. tax law is that a capital gains tax is not imposed when assets are transferred at death to an heir. Furthermore, tax law allows the heir to increase their basis in the asset to fair market value without paying capital gains tax,” which is referred to as a step-up in basis.

Story courtesy of the Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia Commons

Cooler Temperatures Raise Concerns About Early Corn Germinating

Northwest Iowa — There’s some concern about the slow seed development for corn that’s already planted due to the recent cooler conditions. Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Crops Specialist, Joel DeJong, says some fields have been planted for three weeks. Read more

Vilsack: No land grab or beef diet limits

IARN — Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says there’s no truth to the talk that the Biden Administration wants to take land away from people and discourage consumers from eating beef to help fight climate change. Vilsack says the president wants to protect 30 percent of the nation’s land by 2030 but doesn’t plan to use eminent domain to take possession of that land. Vilsack told ag journalists that the talk of a land grab is really off base. “There’s no intent to take away land from farmers,” he says. “The goal is to give farmers more opportunities.”

Vilsack also talked about rumors that the Biden Administration plans to limit how much beef Americans eat. Vilsack says there is no effort in place to limit the intake of beef coming out of the White House or USDA. “In the political world, games get played, and issues get brought into play,” Vilsack says. The rumor seems to have started thanks to a University of Michigan study on beef. The study says cutting the intake of all animal-based foods by 50 percent and replacing that with equivalent quantities of plant-based food would decrease greenhouse gas emissions by 35 percent. “There’s no policy paper in the administration suggesting that people eat less meat,” he adds.

Story courtesy of the Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network

Photo: Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack virtually addresses the NAFB