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AMERICAN FARM BUREAU FEDERATION
                                  225 Touhy Avenue * Park Ridge * Illinois * 60068 * (847)685-8600 * FAX (847)685-8896
     600 MARYLAND AVENUE, S.W. * SUITE 800 * WASHINGTON, D.C. * 20024 * (202)484-3600 * FAX (202)484-3604
                                                                                                                                                                 Internet: http://www.fb.com

August 31, 2001
The Honorable John Linder
U.S. House of Representatives
1727 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Representative Linder:
American farmers and ranchers support fundamental tax reform. They have become increasingly frustrated with the current tax system and disheartned that attempts to improve it only make it more complex.
Your national sales tax plan, H.R. 2525, the Fair Tax Act of 2001, is supported by Farm Bureau. The plan addresses many problems of the current tax system by eliminating the individual and corporate income taxes, capital gains tax, estate tax and payroll taxes. These changes would have a positive impact on day-to-day farm and ranch management and the transfer of farms and ranches from one generation to the next.
The current tax system forces farmers and ranchers to consider the tax consequences of each input purchase, commodity sale, capital asset purchase or capital asset sale. Tax planning has become a part of everyday decision-making. Farmers and racnhers should be making business decisions based on economics, not on tax consequences.
After a lifetime of hard work and paying taxes, farmers and ranchers face double taxation through capital gains taxes at retirement and estate taxes at death. If they sell land, livestock or other assets at retirement, they find the federal government ready to take a share as capital gains taxes. These taxes often discourage retirees from reallocating assets to a more appropriate mix for their retirement years and younger producers lose the opportunity to purchase the assets that they need to start or expand farm and ranch businesses.
Planning for the transfer of assets at death has become a time consuming and costly activity. Many family farms are multi-generation family farms. Transferring farms and ranches from one generation to the next without huge estate taxes is critical to the financial success of these operations. Some farms are lost when death taxes force farmers and ranchers to sell part or all of their business to secure enough cash to pay death taxes.
These and other problems would be eliminated with passage of H.R. 2525, the Fair Tax Act of 2001. We stand ready to assist you in advancing this legislation.
Sincerely,
Bob Stallman
Bob Stallman
President

Cool

Is the Grange on board?

AMERICAN FARM BUREAU FEDERATION

LOL!

Imagine that, a major group of the nations tax suckers endorse a new tax law.

When the American Farm Bureau also recomends reduction or elimination of farm subsidies to lower the proposed already phoney tax rate we can really know their intentions are genuine.