Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representative Tracey Mann (KS-01) led 28 of his colleagues in sending a letter to President Biden expressing concerns with provisions in the President’s Fiscal Year 2023 budget that threaten the stepped-up tax basis and impose ‘marked-to-market’ capital gains taxes on property such as farmland that has been held in families for 90 years or more. Among the cosigners joining Representative Mann were House Agriculture Committee Republican Leader Glenn “GT” Thompson (PA-15), and U.S. Representative Adrian Smith (NE-03), Ranking Member on House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade.
Beginning in 2030, President Biden’s ‘marked-to-market’ proposal would tax the unrealized gains of generational farm assets and inflict hundreds of thousands of dollars in new capital gains taxes on American farmers and ranchers, jeopardizing the future of family-owned agricultural operations.
“Farming is a multi-generational calling, with many producers operating on the same land as their parents and grandparents did decades before,” said Rep. Mann. “The proposals in this budget – threatening the stepped-up basis and imposing the new Farm Killer Tax – will destroy the livelihoods of producers in Kansas and across the country. Taxing the unrealized gains of generational farm assets threatens the livelihoods of the people who feed, fuel, and clothe us – and in turn the food security of our nation. As the Congressman for the First Congressional District of Kansas, home to 60,000 farms and the third-largest agricultural producing district in the country, I urge President Biden to reconsider these devastating tax proposals.”
“President Biden’s farm killer tax is a direct threat to the livelihoods of farm families nationwide and the generational history of American farms and ranches,” said Republican Leader Thompson. Agricultural producers have been sounding the alarm on new tax levies and the impact of changes to stepped-up basis and the estate tax for years, but their concerns have repeatedly fallen on deaf ears. As President Biden continues to leave rural America behind, we remain committed to fighting tooth and nail to prevent this devastation.”
“Eliminating stepped-up basis would put farmers, ranchers, and small businesses already operating under narrow margins at risk of losing their businesses because of a death in the family,” said Rep. Smith. “We should be supporting the next generation of family farms and small businesses, not implementing punitive new taxes which would force them out of business. Threatening livelihoods is not a way to grow our economy, and President Biden should reverse this proposal.”
Last month, Representative Mann led a resolution with 73 of his colleagues that supports the preservation of the stepped-up basis, opposes any new efforts to impose new taxes on family farms and small businesses, and recognizes the importance of generational transfers of farm and small business operations. Representative Mann proudly serves on the House Agriculture Committee.
Click here to read the full text of the letter.
