Death Tax Repeal Act

Death Tax Repeal Act

Last week legislation was introduced in Congress that would permanently repeal the federal estate tax. The Death Tax Repeal Act of 2013 seeks to abolish the estate tax, which is one of the leading causes of the break up of multi-generation family farm and ranchers.
As it currently stands, the estate tax exemption level remains at $5 million ($10 million per couple). Unfortunately, the top tax rate on the value of the estate over the exemption level increased from 35 to 40 percent as part of the “fiscal cliff” negotiations which took place at the beginning of 2013.
Repealing the death tax has been one of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s top legislative priorities for many years. NCBA Associate Director of Legislative Affairs Kent Bacus addresses the question, “How do the chances look this year for passage?”
Bacus: “You know year after year Congress reintroduces these full repeal bills and people ask us that each time. ‘Do we have a better chance now than we had in the past?’ I think what the question should be is, “Whether or not people are still being impacted by the Estate Tax and Why do we still need the Estate Tax?’ So that is really the focus we’ve come at. Obviously conditions are different in every Congress -- I’d make a million dollars if I could predict what Congress is going to do, but unfortunately they are as about unpredictable as the weather. So what we do is keep that issue in front of them each time so they know how important it is for farm and ranch families.”
 

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