Clock is Ticking for Estate Tax

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Time is running out for estate tax reform. With the upcoming August recess and long break for the November elections, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Vice President of Government Affairs Colin Woodall says Congress only has about 30 legislative days left to take up the estate tax before it’s too late. 

Woodall explained that before the midterm elections, Congress won’t be in session all that much.

Because farm and ranch assets consist mainly of land, buildings and specialized equipment – these estates may look wealthy on paper – but Woodall notes they include few saleable assets and little liquidity to pay estate taxes.

Why “land rich and cash poor” doesn’t work with the estate tax.

Agriculture is disproportionately hit by the death tax. The tax is considered one of the leading causes of the breakup of multi-generation family farms and ranches. Farm estates are five to 20 times more likely to incur estate taxes than other estates.  Woodall says it is estimated that one in ten farm estates were likely to owe estate taxes in 2009, according to the USDA Economic Research Service.

He adds this is the time to call your member of Congress.

There is no estate tax here in 2010, but if nothing is passed in our Capitol, we would go back to the 2001 estate tax levels on January 1.  This means that estates worth $1 million or more would be taxed at a 55{4d08edaf359bc2115b18a651716ebd427a137946ddca2143fa23b3ea721061e4} rate.

 

Source: National Cattlemen’s Beef Association

Posted by Haylie Shipp

 

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