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My father started out with nothing. When I was a small child, we lived in a 3 bedroom trailer home. Well, he worked his ass off. Sometimes working 120 hr. weeks! My father has worked harder than most people EVER work in their entire lives! He put EVERYTHING he made back into his farm. Now he has a family farm with assets in total of well over $7,000,000. PLEASE TELL ME EXACTLY WHAT RIGHT THE GOV'T HAS TO STEAL THIS UPON HIS DEATH?!?!? I don't need your sorry "if it doesn't affect me why should I care" ass coming in here and telling me that this does not affect ordinary people. My father's lifetime of hard work is wrapped up in that farm and the Gov't has absolutely no right to STEAL it when he passes away. And that BS about the money never being taxed in the first place is SIMPLY NOT TRUE!! Also, my two brothers now help run this farm. Should they have to sell off half of the assets upon his death in order to fork over a healthy check to the Gov't? What right does the Gov't have to confiscate this property? This farm should be kept in the family to support future generations. That is why my father has worked so hard, damn it!! Funny thing is, my father is not even "rich" as far as cash flows go. He is comfortable, but most everything is wrapped up in assets required to sustain the farm. They make a nice income on which they support my Dad, Uncle, and two brothers and their families but MOST of the income is put back into the farm. That is how the farm got so large in the first place (that is how a business grows, but what incentive does such a tax gives to inspire such hard work). Since they are going to BE PENALIZED for it, I guess they should just spend it as they make it.

You are obviously very ignorant about farming. It does not take much for the assets of a farm to be above $7,000,000. Land is valued at about $1,500/acre around here. Thus, you only have to own about 5,000 acres. Throw in a few $300,000 tractors and a couple $500,000 combines and all the other equipment required to operate a farm and it doesn't take long to get well above $7,000,000 in assets. Keep in mind those are ASSETS not cash so where exactly are my brothers supposed to come up with the big fat check the Gov't is going to request upon my father's death? Yup, you got it. I guess they will just have to sell off some of their livelihood!!! How ANYONE can defend that is beyond me.

But I guess those farmers don't deserve it. The assets should be sold so the Gov't can give it to the have nots. After all, they are the one's who were out there slaving away in the heat and humidity sometimes for as long as 18 hrs. a day.

People like you make me so angry! It is the principle of the matter. It does not matter if it affects you personally or not. This tax should repealed because it is unjust, unfair, and UNAMERICAN!! PERIOD! Hard work should be rewarded not penalized. I am so sick of this kind of crap!

Okay, rant over.

Hi KansasGirl. I would like to respond to what you have said:

Now he has a family farm with assets in total of well over $7,000,000. PLEASE TELL ME EXACTLY WHAT RIGHT THE GOV'T HAS TO STEAL THIS UPON HIS DEATH?!?!?

I congratulate your father on his accomplishments. To answer your question, the right of the government to raise taxes is found in Article I, Section 8 of the US Constitution:

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes

The right of the Congress to tax income is explicitly granted in the 16th Amendment to the Constitution:

Amendment XVI
The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several states, and without regard to any census or enumeration.

Perhaps you find this answer snide, but this is a conservative forum, where we supposedly look to the plain meaning of the Constitution for our anwers. There's your answer. The government, according to our system of government and in compliance with the law, is not "stealing" anything. It is laying taxes. Further, it is the inheritor who is taxed, not the deceased. If you inherit the farm, you will be taxed on it. Thanks to the GOP turning down the Conrad amendment, you will be taxed more than you otherwise would have been.

I don't need your sorry "if it doesn't affect me why should I care" ass coming in here and telling me that this does not affect ordinary people.

I didn't say it doesn't affect "ordinary people", did I? I don't think I would use that phrase. I cited statistics which show the tax as having an effect on a very small segment of the population. If the statistic is wrong, please provide more accurate data. I welcome it.

You are obviously very ignorant about farming. It does not take much for the assets of a farm to be above $7,000,000.

I don't have access to data on the worth of farms. I ran across data for the state of Georgia, which puts the average farm at 600K, well below 7 million. If you have data on farms nationally, I would love to see it. I don't see why anyone would take a position on the effect of this bill on farms without having that data(unless, as in your case, one will stands to gain significantly from the repeal) , although I see there are plenty of people willing to do so.

But I guess those farmers don't deserve it. The assets should be sold so the Gov't can give it to the have nots.

What the government does with its revenues is a separate problem. I think it is the fundamental problem. But it is irrelevant. The fact is that the government will take on its obligations, and someone will have to pay for it. The only way to stop it is to cancel some of those obligations. Unfortunately, by far the biggest part of the pie is Social Security and Medicare, and they are getting bigger still.

Let me use a baseball analogy. I don't know if you know baseball, but there are two leagues, the AL and the NL. The NL plays by the traditional rules. In the AL, back in the 70's they invented the DH, the Designated Hitter. The DH takes the place of the pitcher in the batting order, because pitchers are lousy batters. The NL never adopted the rule.

Now, let's say I am a manager in the AL and I hate the DH rule. I think it goes against the tradition of baseball, degrades the game, and is principally and fundamentally wrong and bad for the sport. But all the other teams in my league, all my competitors, use the DH, and score more runs than they would without the DH. What should I do?

I don't HAVE to use the DH. I could use the pitcher, on principle. I will lose more games, and give all my competitors an edge over me. It won't induce any of the other teams to stop using the DH. It won't elevate the principle. It will simply cost me. Why do it?

That's how I see this situation. The government appropriates money. Once that happens, it's spent. And once it's spent, someone will have to pay for it. Why should I support a bill that will result in me paying more taxes on my income, so that someone else can pay less? Why should I transfer someone else's tax burden to me? Principle? What principle is that? The principle of being a sucker? Farmers get a lot of money from the government, if I am not mistaken. Hell, how many billions of dollars went out this year alone to farmers? I'll tell you what, once I see farmers marching on Washington demanding an end to crop subsidies and all the other goodies, I'll march with them to relieve them of their tax burden.

Hard work should be rewarded not penalized.

Actually, the government should stay out of the way as much as possible. I don't believe "hard work" should be especially rewarded. Productivity should be rewarded in the free market. If some fella can get rich without breaking a sweat, he is no less entitled to the rewards than someone who busts his hump 18 hours a day. Don't mistake movement for progress. What the government should do is appropriate money necessary for doing its business, and lay taxes to come up with the necessary loot. We all get our income taxed, and we all think we are taxed too much, but each of us has some gubmint program that we aren't willing to give up, and when you add them all up, it costs what is costs, and the government taxes what it taxes.

Consider this: With all that taxation going on, we are still billions and billions of dollars in debt. And demographically, that is going to get WORSE. I am 34 years old. I have been hearing with increasing regularity ever since the early 90s that I will end up paying an incredibly high tax to pay for the boomers Social Security benefits. I could scream and shout WHAT GIVES THEM THE RIGHT??IT'S UNJUST!!! Are any retirement age farmers going to step up and take on that burden for me? I doubt it. And why would they?

Okay, rant over.

I see your rant and raise you one :-)