Proposed Tax Increase on Farmland Gets Pushback from U.S. Representative

As a Missouri farmer and cow/calf operator, U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.) says she wants to support agriculture and prevent unfair rules and regulations from being put in place by the Biden administration.

“I feel very much that we need to speak up for agriculture. It seems like every day we're under assault by some new regulation or taxation,” she told Chip Flory, host of AgriTalk, on Wednesday.

Her latest concern, announced earlier this week, is a proposed tax increase on farmland that is referred to as Mark-To-Market.

“We would be taxed on the increased value of our farmland if we've held it for over 90 years,” Hartzler explains. “So, if you've had that farm in the family for years, generations, and back in 1940, your great grandparents bought that land for $30 an acre, and now it's almost $4,000 to $5,000 an acre – out of the blue, you would have to cough up money intended for the federal government.”

Flory says he believes the Mark-To-Market tax has little chance of being adopted.

“But we have to make sure a proposal like that has no chance, and we have to talk about it as much as we can,” Flory says.

Hartzler agrees and cites the budget Biden brought up last year – in which he proposed doing away with stepped up basis – as a case in point.

“It would have basically been putting the new capital gains tax on inherited property, which is basically another gas tax,” Hartzler says. “Due to the outrage, the voices of agriculture … and those of us in Congress who represent them, the administration backed off on that. But they're just going to keep trying to come back again and again, and our voices will need to be heard once again.”

Flory says he agrees, saying “It's time to rally the troops again, and make sure that some of these proposals don't see the light of day.”

Amplifying Processing of Livestock Act
During her discussion with Flory, Hartzler also addressed the so-called A-PLUS Act. She and Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.) introduced legislation on the Act, which Hartzler says would fix regulatory roadblocks to increasing meat processing capacity and allow livestock auction market owners to invest in small and regional packing facilities.

“For decades, livestock auction markets have played by an outdated and restrictive book of rules which limited capacity and created a system where large meat packer behemoths literally and figuratively slaughtered the competition,” Hartzler says, in a prepared statement.

“The A-PLUS Act would even the playing field and fix these regulations for the benefit of our livestock auctions and small packers. I thank Rep. Panetta for his partnership on this legislation for our regional packing facilities,” she adds.

The legislation directs the Secretary of Agriculture to amend the Packers and Stockyards Act to allow livestock auction market owners to hold ownership in, finance, or participate in the management or operation of a meat packing entity with a cumulative slaughter capacity of less than 2,000 animals per day or 700,000 animals per year. This cap would exclude investment in the top 10 meat packers.

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Source: AgWeb / Farm Journal

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