Make tax cuts permanent

By the end of summer, Congress plans to unveil a second phase of tax cuts that would make permanent many of the benefits of last year’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

America’s farmers should rejoice. Under the new tax code, the estate- and gift-tax exemption for farm owners passing land and other assets to their heirs doubled to roughly $11.2 million for an individual and $22.4 million per married couple.

This drastically reduced the number of farm owners who owe estate and gift taxes, allowing us to keep farm operations in the hard-working families that built them and provide for our local communities. When we pay less in federal taxes, we can focus on hiring more farm workers, investing in new machinery and equipment, implementing new technology to improve our environmental stewardship, and expanding operations to increase our production of homegrown food, fuel and fiber.

The estate- and gift-tax exemptions are set to expire in 2025, but congressional Republicans are now working to make them permanent. Like many farm owners across the country, we hope these changes will be implemented.