AFBF Asks Administration to Withdraw Proposed Changes to Estate Tax Discount Valuation

As the Treasury Department reviews all the significant tax regulations issued on or after Jan. 1, 2016, farmers and ranchers are calling on the administration to withdraw proposed changes that would limit the use of discount valuation for estate tax purposes.

The proposed changes “would significantly endanger the future of family farms in America. They wrongly set forth more restrictive rules for using valuation discounts that would make it more difficult for our nation’s family-owned farms and ranches to survive intergenerational transfers,” American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall said in a letter to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue.

Valuation discounting has proven to be a very effective strategy for transferring business assets to subsequent generations, particularly when it comes to the transfer of small family businesses and farming and ranching operations, according to Farm Bureau.

We urge swift action to withdraw this unwarranted and harmful proposal to promote the transfer of agricultural businesses to the next generation of farmers and ranchers who will grow and produce our nation’s food, fiber and energy.

AFBF President Zippy Duvall

In the letter, he also urged that a recommendation to withdraw the valuation-related changes be made by the Promoting Agricultural and Rural Prosperity in America task force, under its charge to promote the preservation of family farms and other agribusiness operations as they are passed from one generation to the next. President Donald Trump created the task force with an executive order issued on April 25.