Today during a House Budget Committee hearing on President Biden’s Fiscal Year 2022 budget proposal, Rep. Randy Feenstra (IA-04) questioned Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Acting Director Shalanda Young about the Biden administration’s proposal to raise taxes on Iowa farmers and main street business owners.
“The Treasury Department’s budget proposal includes a stepped-up basis tax change that is effectively the death tax with a new coat of paint,” said Rep. Feenstra. “I have heard from farmers across the 4th District who are concerned this change would be financially devastating -- especially when it comes to passing family farms from one generation to the next. If the administration goes down this path, it will be a direct attack on rural America. Hardworking farmers should not have to foot the bill for Democrats’ reckless spending policies.”
Background
While campaigning for president, Biden proposed eliminating stepped-up basis, and the administration’s so-called American Families Plan included such changes. In May, Feenstra joined his colleagues in writing a letter opposing Biden’s proposed changes to stepped-up basis and calling for these proposals to be excluded from any future legislation.
A recent EY study found that this change, coupled with the proposal to tax capital gains at death, have the potential to reduce wages by $32 for every $100 in new taxes collected and eliminate 80,000 jobs per year. According to a Farm Bureau analysis, it could also cost farmers up to 476% more than cash rent.
Original source can be found here
