News
Tax concerns contribute to drop in farmer sentiment
Farmers are concerned potential changes to tax policy will negatively impact agriculture, according to the latest Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer.
Purdue University’s Jim Mintert says “people really are very concerned about this and I think, very importantly for policy makers, they’re paying attention. This is an issue that’s on people’s mind especially with respect to the negative implications for passing a farm on to the next generation.”
He tells Brownfield nearly 80 percent of farmers surveyed are very concerned tax policy will make it more difficult to pass their farms to the next generation.
“83 percent said they expect capital gains tax rates to rise in the next five years, 71 percent of the people in the survey are very concerned about a possible loss of a step-up in cost basis for inherited estates, and two thirds of the people in the survey said they’re very concerned about a possible reduction in the estate tax exemption for inherited estates,” he says.
He says tax policy concerns could be one factor some producers have a less optimistic outlook for the ag sector in the latest survey.
