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Farm Bureau leader criticizes Biden’s tax plan

A Wisconsin dairy farmer is critical of President Biden’s proposed tax changes.  Kevin Krentz is Wisconsin Farm Bureau’s president and operates a dairy farm near Berlin in Waushara County.  He says Biden’s planned inclusion of the Sensible Taxation and Equity Promotion Act by Representative Bill Pascrell and Senator Chris Van Hollen in the Bipartisan Infrastructure framework has the potential of generating billions of dollars in federal revenue by restricting the ‘stepped-up basis’ that currently reduces liability on inherited property, but Krentz says this incredible tax burden would make continuing on the family farm extremely costly. 

Krentz says the next generation could be forced to sell the farm piece-by-piece to pay for taxes, and he says the tax change would only speed up the consolidation in the agriculture industry.  Krentz says repealing the stepped-up basis by imposing capital gains taxes at death would force many family-owned farms and ranches to liquidate assets to cover the tax burden and would be the final blow to many family farms.

Krentz says not every Democrat is in favor of eliminating the stepped-up basis, and Senator Joe Manchin from West Virginia has already pledged to vote against eliminating it.