U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-IA) is among a group of lawmakers voicing their opposition to proposed tax hikes on family farms and small businesses.
Feenstra and the lawmakers are taking issue with several proposals in President Biden’s $7.3-trillion budget for Fiscal Year 2025. The proposals include a new tax on the transfer of agricultural and business assets, a cap on like-kind exchanges, and a combined capital gains and dividend tax rate more than double that of China.
“These economic policies will stifle economic growth in our rural communities, prevent young producers and entrepreneurs from continuing the family tradition, and sadly give family farms and small businesses no other choice but to close for good,” Feenstra said. “That’s why, in response to President Biden’s reckless budget, I led a letter to the White House urging the President to abandon these crippling tax hikes on the backbone of our economy – our nation’s farmers and small business owners. To grow our economy, we must end wasteful government spending, balance our budget, and keep taxes low for our farmers, producers, business owners, and innovators.”
The letter to Biden said the budget proposals related to like-kind exchanges, stepped-up basis, capitals gains, and estate taxes would raise hundreds of billions of dollars of taxes on farmers and small businesses.
“By proposing this transfer tax and letting the enhanced estate tax exemption level expire, you are essentially turning the capital gains tax into a Double Death Tax. With so much of our nation’s agricultural economy dependent on the transferring of family farms to the next generation, it is critical that we make this transition as easy and affordable as possible. Your budget proposals do precisely the opposite, and our family farms, agricultural communities, and the country as a whole will bear the consequences,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter.