Farm Bureau Responds to President’s Tax Plan

American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall welcomed the inclusion of eliminating the estate tax in President Donald Trump’s tax plan unveiled this week. However, Duvall says tax reform must treat all businesses fairly, noting that “most farm and ranch businesses don’t operate like large corporations.” Duvall says most farms are family-run and depend on deductions and provisions that give them the flexibility they need to keep their businesses running in all seasons. Duvall says farmers and ranchers have already benefitted from congressional action to reduce the burden of the estate tax, known as the death tax, and that AFBF is “ready to bury the death tax once and for all.” Duvall also says lower tax rates will go a long way in helping farmers and ranchers. But the future of other important provisions for agriculture, like immediate expensing, the deduction for interest expense, cash accounting and like-kind exchanges, is still unclear. He says the tax code “should not add to the challenges” to farmers, and that AFBF is ready to work with the administration and Congress to address all of agriculture’s needs in tax reform.