Death Tax is Killing Texas Farms

Taxes should be as low as possible and fair to all parties. Being taxed twice is incomprehensible, but that is exactly what the estate tax does − tax families twice for simply passing along their property to the next generation. When something does more harm than good, it’s absolutely time to make it stop. Such is the case with the federal estate tax – a tax that more commonly, and accurately, is referred to as the “death tax.”

According to a new study titled “Cost & Consequences of the Federal Estate Tax,” the death tax has been backfiring for nearly a century. Intended – albeit questionably − to prevent the monopolization of wealth, the tax has proved to be archaic, misguided and downright unfair. Even worse, it is killing family farms and other entrepreneurial endeavors by burdening the heirs of the deceased with tax bills that often force them to downsize, sell or shutter their operations. Why penalize success and discourage the American dream? Why turn away other taxes paid in the form of input costs?

Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas has been vigorously advocating a repeal of the death tax for quite some time, and I couldn’t agree with him more. Taxing farm families out of business jeopardizes our nation’s food, fiber and timber supply. At a time when fewer Americans are entering into agriculture, the death tax needs to go. We’re already dependent on foreign oil; we cannot become dependent on foreign food.

To read Rep. Brady’s press release advocating death tax repeal, go here.