7-22 IAN Death Tax

Death Tax Hibernation. Out of sight, out of mind is too often the political strategy of many inside the Washington D.C. Beltway. An issue not talked about too much lately is the estate tax or more appropriately labeled the death tax. However, when you venture out in rural America this issue is still a top concern for cattlemen and other small business owners. At the conclusion of 2010 and a few weeks into 2011, the death tax received the attention it deserved from congressional leaders. In late December Congress voted - just a few days before the tax reverted back to pre-2011 levels - to reform the estate tax to a 35 percent rate with a $5 million exemption. On Jan. 1, 2011, if the estate tax was allowed to revert back to the pre-2001 levels of 55 percent on property valued at $1 million, many farmers and ranchers would have been forced to sell.

This reform, indeed, was a victory for all farmers, ranchers and small business owners. Executive director of the Idaho cattlemen’s Association, Wyatt Prescott tells us why: “The estate tax is extremely devastating to ranchers, cattle producers, agricultural producers across the board. Essentially what they do is work their entire lives in poverty and they die land rich, estate rich.”  However, the beast isn't dead; it's just hibernating for a couple years. This estate tax reform is only good for two years. In 2013, the fate of the death tax and, consequently, the fate of many farm and ranch families throughout the country will again come up for debate.