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NCBA continues to fight for tax protections for farmers and ranchers

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association maintains exemptions for family-owned businesses in the proposed changes to federal tax code will not protect the majority of agricultural producers.

Danielle Beck is senior executive director, government affairs, with NCBA. “Certain progressives claim they’re trying to target the Bill and Melinda Gates of the world from owning x percentage of agricultural land,” Beck says. “They want this to target the millionaires and billionaires out there but the way this could be written it will implicate all of the family owned operations in this country.”

She tells Brownfield the group was disappointed in Ag Secretary Vilsack’s recent support of the President’s plan. “If the goal here is to prevent the millionaires and billionaires whey target the vast majority? It seems to me they should be singling in on the bad actions that are taking advantage of this system.”

In addition to the Infrastructure Bill, she says there’s been a lot of attention on the budget reconciliation package, which Beck says has been rumored to have a “cow tax”. “This is not a real issue, just to be candid.”

She says it’s a distraction from the real issues at hand. “The deal is not done in the Senate. There are negotiations ongoing. It’s critically important that we preserve stepped-up basis, we maintain the current expanded estate tax exclusion limit, prevent the hike in the estate tax rate,” Beck says. “The death tax is an actual killer – pun intended – for actual producers.”

Congress was supposed vote on the Infrastructure Bill by September 27^th, but House Speaker Pelosi said it would be Thursday.

Danielle Beck: