Congress Needs To Stop The 2011 Tax Increases
By: Doug Busselman, Executive Vice President
As we edge closer to the November 2010 elections we need to pay special attention to the activities not taking place in the halls of Congress. If the current group of elected representatives were contemplating the massive tax increases that will take place on January 2011 as an overt action – all heck would be breaking and those facing re-election would be backing away from that increase about as quickly as anyone can back away from anything.
However, by not doing the right thing, before January 2011 – they get to have the tax increases they seem intent for us to be forced into paying – without any of the downside of being held accountable for the massive tax increases poised to befall us.
One example is the increase of taxes that will come about with the reinstitution of the Death Tax. The heirs of someone dying in 2010 will not have to pay any Death Tax. Anyone who dies on January 1, 2011 or after will leave his heirs with a tax on all but the first $1 million of the estate and a maximum rate of 55 percent.
Death Taxes can destroy a family business (especially those as capital and asset intensive as production agriculture) and it is not uncommon for surviving family members to be required to sell land, equipment and other assets to pay the taxes required. Planning to avoid the devastation of Uncle Sam’s Grim-Reaper Tax Raids is also problematic, diverting funds that could have been reinvested in the on-going agricultural operations.
There’s something to be said about someone paying taxes on their income throughout their lives, working hard to put together the pieces in order to leave something to the next generation – and then dying and passing along a Death Tax burden – that “something” is a less then kind or positive thought about a government which is willing to accept that approach to funding the excessive and wasteful spending our current group of representatives are doing.
Even if the members of Congress cannot or will not institute a legislative correction to keep the Death Tax from coming back at all in 2011 – passage should be given to a partial solution. Farm Bureau and others involved have been working to bring about an increase in the exemption level, taking it to $5 million (with provisions for the adjustments to deal with inflation) and reducing the maximum rate to 35 percent. The estate tax reform package that needs to be passed by this session of Congress should also include a stepped-up basis, which limits the amount of property value appreciation that is subject to capital gains taxes if the assets are sold.
The planned, automatic re-institution of the Death Tax in 2011 is a mistake that lawmakers in Washington, D.C. need to fix this year. With all the political falderal coming from Washington, D.C. on how jobs and our economy are such priorities – perhaps something actually meaningful would be worthwhile for doing something about something that needs doing.
Not fixing the Death Tax is something that should be looked on November as a tax increase, stimulated by government greed and uncaring representatives who think there is nothing wrong with sending the tax collectors out to pilfer the estates of those who have died…at a rate up to 55 percent of what’s been left behind.
As we edge closer to the November 2010 elections we need to pay special attention to the activities not taking place in the halls of Congress. If the current group of elected representatives were contemplating the massive tax increases that will take place on January 2011 as an overt action – all heck would be breaking and those facing re-election would be backing away from that increase about as quickly as anyone can back away from anything.
However, by not doing the right thing, before January 2011 – they get to have the tax increases they seem intent for us to be forced into paying – without any of the downside of being held accountable for the massive tax increases poised to befall us.
One example is the increase of taxes that will come about with the reinstitution of the Death Tax. The heirs of someone dying in 2010 will not have to pay any Death Tax. Anyone who dies on January 1, 2011 or after will leave his heirs with a tax on all but the first $1 million of the estate and a maximum rate of 55 percent.
Death Taxes can destroy a family business (especially those as capital and asset intensive as production agriculture) and it is not uncommon for surviving family members to be required to sell land, equipment and other assets to pay the taxes required. Planning to avoid the devastation of Uncle Sam’s Grim-Reaper Tax Raids is also problematic, diverting funds that could have been reinvested in the on-going agricultural operations.
There’s something to be said about someone paying taxes on their income throughout their lives, working hard to put together the pieces in order to leave something to the next generation – and then dying and passing along a Death Tax burden – that “something” is a less then kind or positive thought about a government which is willing to accept that approach to funding the excessive and wasteful spending our current group of representatives are doing.
Even if the members of Congress cannot or will not institute a legislative correction to keep the Death Tax from coming back at all in 2011 – passage should be given to a partial solution. Farm Bureau and others involved have been working to bring about an increase in the exemption level, taking it to $5 million (with provisions for the adjustments to deal with inflation) and reducing the maximum rate to 35 percent. The estate tax reform package that needs to be passed by this session of Congress should also include a stepped-up basis, which limits the amount of property value appreciation that is subject to capital gains taxes if the assets are sold.
The planned, automatic re-institution of the Death Tax in 2011 is a mistake that lawmakers in Washington, D.C. need to fix this year. With all the political falderal coming from Washington, D.C. on how jobs and our economy are such priorities – perhaps something actually meaningful would be worthwhile for doing something about something that needs doing.
Not fixing the Death Tax is something that should be looked on November as a tax increase, stimulated by government greed and uncaring representatives who think there is nothing wrong with sending the tax collectors out to pilfer the estates of those who have died…at a rate up to 55 percent of what’s been left behind.
Posted by Doug Busselman at 7/12/2010 2:51 PM 
Categories: Congress
Tags: Death Tax Reform Estate Taxes 2010 Elections Congress
Categories: Congress
Tags: Death Tax Reform Estate Taxes 2010 Elections Congress
With so much of our manufacturing capability having been shipped out of the country by wealthy American businessmen looking to exploit cheap labor, spending cuts alone won't get The Country out of debt. Taxes have to be raised. Maybe those screaming about high taxes now, should have been screaming for the Republicans to have been doing their jobs during the Bush Administration, and actually have regulated Wall Street.
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