Agriculture Lobbyists Seek Exemption for Farm and Ranch Land From Estate Tax

Meg Shreve of Tax Analysts reports on the agricultural lobbyists seeking an exemption for farm and ranch land fom the estate tax:

Extension of current law isn't good enough," said Patricia Wolff, director of public policy for the American Farm Bureau. Her association instead is pushing for higher exemption levels and is backing a bipartisan bill introduced in October by House taxwriters Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., and Kevin Brady, R-Texas. H.R. 3905 would raise the estate tax exemption level over a 10-year period to $ 5 million for individuals ($ 10 million for joint filers).

But farmers and ranchers aren't merely backing the Berkley-Brady bill. Several groups are pushing for a bill introduced earlier in the year by Ways and Means member Mike Thompson, D-Calif., and Rep. John T. Salazar, D-Colo. Their proposal, H.R. 3524, would exclude farm and ranch land along with land used for conservation easements from the estate tax as long as that land is still used for agriculture.

See Meg Shreve: "Lobby Lookout: Agriculture Groups Seek to Exclude Farm and Ranch Land From Estate Tax," 2009 226-1, November 25, 2009

Posted by Marc Patterson, Associate Editor, Wealth Strategies Journal.