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Vilsack says family farms won’t see capital gains tax hikes
Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack met with farmers concerned about the impacts of capital gains tax issues proposed by the administration. Fourth-generation crop farmer Jeanie Igl is worried how her family’s 2,600-acre farm would continue if it were required to pay capital gains tax increases and lose stepped-up basis protections, “If we have a $2 million capital gains bill, that’s going to put the farm in jeopardy,” she says.
During his visit to the Michigan farm, Secretary Vilsack tells Brownfield family farms will be protected. “What is being proposed contains a provision that if the farm continues to be owned and operated by the family, that’s going to continue to stay in the family, it’s not going to be subject to any tax incident,” he says.
If the parents holding the farm pass and the next generation chooses to sell, there will be additional exemptions, “Each child is going to have a million-dollar exemption, their spouse is going to have a million exemption,” he explains.
Igl says it was reassuring to hear from the Secretary they wouldn’t be impacted unless the farm was sold outside the family, “With the price of land, a beginning farmer would have no chance if they would buy in, there’s just no way they would be able to farm, and we want to keep the farm going,” she shares. “It’s a matter of heritage, it’s also a matter of security, America needs to have their own food.”
