Stressing the multiple benefits of maintaining family farms and ranches, a coalition of California farm organizations has endorsed tax-reform legislation that would exclude farm assets from the federal estate tax.
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The Family Farm Preservation Estate Tax Act, H.R. 3524, would exempt farm and ranch assets from estate taxes as long as the property remains as a family agricultural operation. Introduced by Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Napa) and Rep. John Salazar (D-Colorado), the bill would also exclude land enrolled in a qualified conservation easement from the estate tax.
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Tax-reform legislation approved in 2001 will phase out the estate tax entirely in 2010, but will expire in 2011, when estate-tax rates would return to their pre-2001 level. Farm organizations say that would severely damage a farmer’s ability to pass a farm or ranch to the next generation.
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Groups supporting the bill include the California Association of Winegrape Growers, California Tomato Growers Association, and the Wine Institute.
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For more information, visit cfbf.com.
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Biz Briefs is compiled by Staff Writer Jeremy Thomas. Information should be sent to the Sun via fax, e-mail, or mail.
This article appears in Sep 3-10, 2009.
