526,421 family farms threatened by new death tax

The Washington Examiner ^ | December 11, 2012 | | Paul Bedard

[george76]

New legislation that jumps the death tax to 55 percent of estates exceeding $1 million threatens 526,421 family farms, of about 25 percent of all farms in America.

...

Farm values are largely tied up in non-liquid assets like land, buildings, and livestock. Many farm and ranch families would be forced to sell their assets to satisfy Washington Democrats' insatiable appetite for tax money. Up to 24 percent of America's farm and ranch families could be forced to hand over a large chunk of their heritage to the Internal Revenue Service when a family member dies. This would economically devastate rural communities

[wesagain]

The IRS....stealing from the dead near you! Jesus said it right.... “tax-collectors and other SINNERS.”

[doc1019]

I guess it is time for Obama to introduce the collective farm concept. ;-)

[rockinqsranch]

“This would economically devastate rural communities....”

Precisely the reason behind it all. It’s part of the plan to bankrupt the small farmer, and hand over their land, and business to the mega agri-corporations.

Caution: Cronies at work.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Plank #3 of the Communist Manifesto: A confiscatory estate tax.

The Ten Planks of Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto
(and How Statists Implement Them)

1. Abolition of private property rights (via high property taxes, restrictive zoning laws, "fair housing" edicts, environmental and "wetlands" regulations, UN Agenda 21, etc.)

2. Institution of a heavily graduated income tax (by calling it "taxing the rich")

3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance (through a confiscatory estate tax on "the rich")

4. Confiscation of the property of enemies of the state (through lawless application of asset forfeiture and eminent domain)

5. Centralization of credit into the hands of the state (Federal Reserve, Federal Trade Commission, TARP, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, federal takeover of student loans, etc.)

6. Centralization of the means of communication and transportation into the hands of the state (FCC, DOT, FEMA, NTSB, FAA, etc.).

7. Consolidation and subjugation of all major industries to central government control (FDA, EPA, OSHA, ICC, HUD, NLRB, EEOC, DOE, TSA etc.)

8. Mandatory labor union membership ("card check" to bypass employee consent, automatic withholding of union dues, forced unionization of health care workers, teachers, police, firefighters, etc.)

9. Equitable redistribution of all wealth (TANF, SSI, EITC, SNAP, etc.)

10. Free public education (and food, housing, health care, cell phones, Internet access, etc.)

[WildHighlander57]

Question:

Do the taxes still apply if the assets are held in a trust?

Assets in a trust dont go though probate; not considered part of the estate.

[Alberta's Child]

I’ll need to see some documentation to verify this. My understanding is that the U.S. tax code exempts a farm from the estate tax as long as the heirs who receive the asset continue to operate it as a farm.

[palmer]

I’ll need to see some documentation to verify this. My understanding is that the U.S. tax code exempts a farm from the estate tax as long as the heirs who receive the asset continue to operate it as a farm.

On NPR tonight they said family farms don't have to worry because they can pay the tax in installments.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Precisely the reason behind it all. It’s part of the plan to bankrupt the small farmer, and hand over their land, and business to the mega agri-corporations.

Or the United Nations.

[GeronL]

why not a 105% tax while we are at it?

we can start a leftist meme for them, they’re stupid- they’ll buy it

[SubMareener]

That is wrong. When the grantor of a trust dies, the trust is subject to estate taxes on his or her share of the trust. If the trust is set up properly, when one grantor dies, the assets of the original trust are divided equally into two trusts, A and B. Trust A is the trust of the deceased grantor. It is subject to estate tax on its value. The B trust goes to the surviving grantor. Usually the survivor can draw on the A trust for living expenses, etc, but that is not a really good idea. When the second grantor dies, the B trust is subject to estate taxes. Then the two trust are merged into an administrative trust before being divided among the remaining beneficiaries. So there is no getting around the estate tax. However, if the survivor lives off their B trust and grows the A trust they can maximize the amount passed on to the beneficiaries, because the A trust is only subject to the estate tax once.

[Cicero]

On NPR tonight they said family farms don't have to worry because they can pay the tax in installments.

If that's true, it's nuts. Family farms don't make big profits. Most of them just make enough to get by, and usually someone in the family needs to hold down another job.

People don't do family farms because they can get rich that way. They do it because they like the lifestyle. It's hard, demanding work, but if you do the work it can be very satisfying.

But there's no real profits floating around that would enable anyone to pay huge death taxes to the gubbermint.

[duffee]

Warren Buffet will sell them enough insurance so they can keep the farm, that’s why he likes democrats, because they like the death tax.

[cherry]

the story is that the ultra rich do not want a thriving middle class.....they don't want them to own land, not just farms, but any land...not vacation land...not seaside land, not land in the mountains....nothing....

this is the elitist dream to enjoy our natural treasures without the annoying middle class up and comers spoiling the view...

remember the fight over Sherwood Forest....

actually a lot of hunting nowadays is reserved for the rich or the famous....lots of land locked away from Joe the Plumber etc....

[rockinqsranch]

If it was turned over to the U.N. I would believe it would then in turn be handed over to their mega agri-corporation cronies. They are a government wannabe, not a business oriented entity.

[Conservativegreatgrandma]

IIRC, Buffett’s son farms in NE. Wonder how they plan to weasel out of the taxes and we can be sure they will. Buffett is all talk.

[stockpirate]

In NAZI Germany the NAZI’s took people from their homes and confinscated all they owned to fuel the socialist masses who loved their dear leader.

No one cared that the Jews aka capitalists, were sent to be re-educated in to the wonderful world of socialism and never returned. All they knew was they got some of their stuff when they left.

The same will happen here, sooner then anyone cares to admit, when the farmers lose their farms and no one grows food thousands will starve and die. No one cares, as long as they get their free stuff.

Many will be sent to re-education camps and never return. Look at our cities, look at what the fascists have done, and no one cares.

[Last of the Mohicans]

The article is misleading in that this is not new legislation. This goes back to the Bush administration, can’t place fault with Obama.

[Cementjungle]

threatens 526,421 family farms

Liberals think this is progress, since they think that food should only come from unionized supermarkets.