holy crap - this is interesting.
ok - here's how it goes, dakota. my parents bought some of their land when it was around $415/acre - that same land is now valued at $8500/acre. if my mom dies or sells her farmland after this year, she or my brother & i will have to pay capital gains on the difference between those two figures. there used to be a stepped up basis that took the value up to what it was the day the person died - that may disappear after this year. and this isn't just for farmers - it's for everyone who inherits an estate. BUT for us 'small' farmers (we own around 700 acres total) 55% of the difference between those two values would go to our fabulous government. this year there was no estate tax at all. next year, it goes to $1 million & it's a 55% tax for estates over that. does it seem right that anyone should effectively lose more than half of their inheritance for taxes? we've paid taxes on that land for years & now we get socked with another 55%?? come ON!!
"4PackGirl" wrote:
4Pack - Sorry to do this to you twice. I do care about the human element and I'm in complete agreement. But this to me has to be said.
OK, let's say hypothetically 4Pack gets taxed heavily and has to sell the land. You got farmland, which is a GOOD thing. What do we replace it with? Suburbs? Are we going to pave the whole freaking country?
I used to be heavily into the outdoors. Camping, hunting, fishing, photography, etc. A lot of the places I used to go are paved now or developed. Pisses me off big time. These used to be BEAUTIFUL areas too. Suburbs and strip malls are not beautiful. They're ugly. I hate urban sprawl with a passion.
Not only talking aesthetics here. 700 acres of farmland is a good thing for all of us. That's 700 acres that produce us food so we can eat. They sell it, what are the chances it goes to another family farmer? Now that I'm a city boy, I honestly don't know but if I had to bet (I'm a gambling man), I'd say big odds that it's unlikely. It will most likely get developed.
Farmland is not unlimited. Look at Japan. They have to import food. Same with a lot of European countries. We can export because we have so much farmland. What about generations from now though when family farmers have been taxed to death and have to sell their lands to pay taxes? What happens then?
There's something morally wrong there.
My man Donald Driver
(thanks to Pack93z for the pic)
2010 will be seen as the beginning of the new Packers dynasty. 🇹🇹 🇲🇲 🇦🇷