Stepped-Up Basis Still Considered
I’m Bob Larson. The stepped-up basis tax break is still in the Biden Administration’s crosshairs, based on recent Congressional testimony.
As Congress enters the final days to decide the fate of the controversial “Build Back Better” budget and how to pay for it, officials are keeping alive a proposed elimination of the stepped-up basis, key for offsetting farm transfer taxes at death.
Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack …
VILSACK … “If the farm continues to be owned and operated by the family, there is no impact, there is no tax due, there are no capital gains that are due then. Secondly, if, in fact, at some point in time in the future, the family decides to sell the farm and get out of the farming business, there are exemptions—a million dollars a person.”
But Illinois GOP Congresswoman Mary Miller wasn’t buying it …
MILLER … “Are you saying that rolling that back is not going to affect the family farm or ranch? Did you just say that rolling back the stepped-up basis is not going to affect them?
Vilsack’s response …
VILSACKI … “Our ERS has taken a look at this, and they have concluded, not once, but twice, that roughly 98 percent of family farms in this country are not going to be impacted and affected by this.”
American Farm Bureau President Zippy Duval argued last month that a tax “carve-out” for farms is dangerous, creating a lingering tax liability that could discourage farm lending and impacts ag input suppliers.
