President of the Farm Bureau: Tax hikes would hurt Nebraska farmers and rural Nebraska communities

(The Center Square) – A nonprofit group has formed in Nebraska to oppose proposed new federal tax increases, which members say would harm farms and other businesses.

"As we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, America and Nebraska are particularly well positioned to achieve economic growth," says the Nebraskans for Tax Truth group on its website. "However, Washington, DC's current tax proposals threaten to halt this progress and place additional burdens on our farm producers and job creation as soon as a recovery is in sight."

The Nebraska Farm Bureau is one of the groups joining the coalition against tax increases.

One of the big concerns of farmers is President Biden's proposal to remove the base increase provision in federal tax law that allows heirs to pay lower capital gains taxes on real estate that has been owned by their family for many years, Nebraska Farm Bureau President Mark McHargue told Center Square.

"My father is 85," said McHargue. “He certainly bought his land at a lower price. If that base is not increased upon his death, we will be subject to withholding tax of several thousand dollars per acre. "

The tax hike would force many heirs to sell farms that have been family-owned for generations, McHargue said.

Absent landowners would also damage the fabric of rural communities, he said.

"We need people for rural communities," said McHargue. “Agriculture is a business. Whenever you have a company that is externally controlled, there aren't that many dollars or that many people in the community involved. "

The increase in corporate taxes would also hurt farmers, many of whom are business owners, McHargue said.

The “taxing the rich” approach favored by Biden was wrong when it came to farmers, he said.

"We have assets," he said. "But if we have to sell them to pay the taxes, it won't do anyone any good."