ICYMI: Republican Ag Committee Members’ Call on USDA for Details on Proposed Tax Increase Impact

WASHINGTON—Republican members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry are increasing pressure on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to support its claim that less than two percent of family farms and ranches will be impacted by the Biden administration’s proposed tax increases.

U.S. Senator John Boozman (R-AR), the committee’s ranking member, and seven other Republican members of the committee have requested U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack provide a detailed explanation and any supporting economic analyses that clarifies how the proposed tax increases will affect farm estates.

Concern is high among farmers and ranchers across the country as they understand how harmful these proposed tax increases are on the economic wellbeing of rural America.

Leading agriculture news outlets have highlighted the efforts these Republican senators are making on behalf of family farmers and ranchers:   

• Progressive Farmer/DTN – Agricultural groups and Republican members of the U.S. Senate agriculture committee are continuing to challenge the Biden administration proposal to increase capital-gains taxes and eliminate stepped-up basis for inherited assets. The panel's Ranking Member John Boozman authored a letter to Vilsack that questioned USDA's analysis of President Joe Biden's proposed changes in capital gains tax rates and the modification to stepped-up basis on America's family farms and ranches.
  
  
• Agri-Pulse – Republicans on the Senate ag committee are demanding Secretary Tom Vilsack explain the department’s analysis of Biden’s proposal to tax farm estates.
  
  
• Farm Progress – A major piece of the Biden administration’s “Build Back Better” plan includes significant tax changes. Several members of Congress continue to seek out additional insight on how proposed changes could impact their rural constituents.
  
  
• Brownfield Ag News - Republican Senate ag committee members want USDA to publicly disclose how the Biden administration’s proposed tax increases will impact farms and ranches. Ranking member Senator John Boozman of Arkansas says USDA data suggests just 2% of farm and ranch families will be impacted by the proposed tax changes.  “Our informal work with various economists has that figure much higher than that,” he says.
  
  
• Pro Farmer – Republican members of the Senate ag panel are calling on Secretary Tom Vilsack to make public a detailed explanation and any supporting economic analyses that clarifies how the Biden administration’s proposed tax increases will affect farm estates.
  
  
• High Plains Journal - The letter to Secretary Vilsack questions the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s analysis of Biden’s proposed changes in capital gains tax rates and the modification to stepped-up basis on America’s family farms and ranches.