Grassley Fears Administration Will Raise Taxes On Ag Sector

Senate Finance senior member Chuck Grassley predicts President Biden will push to increase taxes on agriculture and other sectors to pay for his Green New Deal and infrastructure bills. Grassley and other Republicans recently introduced legislation to end the estate tax. That is in stark contrast to President Biden and Hill Democrats want to boost the estate tax, along with, Grassley predicts, stepped-up basis and ‘pass through’ tax breaks.

“Every part of the 2017 tax bill, I could say, is in jeopardy, because he said during the campaign, he wanted to repeal it. I think they’re going to change a lot of tax laws, they’re going to do it for two reasons, one, to raise money, but another thing, to have reconciliation provisions, and a tax bill would be subject to reconciliation.”

A budget procedure Senate Democrats can use to pass spending and tax hikes with 51-votes, including the Vice-President, instead of the usual 60-vote supermajority. As for convincing the White House not to raise the estate tax.

“Do they think people invest in farmland to buy it today and sell it tomorrow for a profit? No, you buy farmland to make your operation more efficient, and you buy it to keep the business going, after one generation passes on to the other.”

Grassley says if Biden discounted inflation on farmland, reducing the estate tax exclusion might be more fair, but with the administration’s need to pay for expensive new programs, Grassley predicts that won’t happen.

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