4-11 IAN Politics & Tax

 I had an interesting conversation the other day with National Cattlemen’s Beef Association  spokesman Mike Deering regarding the effect of politics on the estate tax that threatens so many farmers and ranchers. This could make your blood boil: “One of the things that we’re working with Congress this year on is to make sure there is more tax relief included. We would like to see a full repeal of the estate tax but given the realities of this is an election year, I don’t think we will see any action on comprehensive tax reform or estate tax relief until after the elections in November. That being said, I would say the estate tax would continue to be a political point That the candidates are going to use and we want to make sure all that information out there is accurate and that people know what a hindrance this is on agriculture and the fact that we don’t need it. It is not a tax on the wealthy people, this is a tax on farmers and ranchers whose values I tied up in the value of the land and the equipment they use to provide food for America and the world. What we want to see is a repeal that tax and think that would give relief to our producers and would be something that would not interfere with their ability to run their operations and continue to meet that global demand for food.