b'Keeping The Tax Man At Bayby Kam Quarles, NPC Executive Vice President and CEOA billion here, a billion there, and andEquityPromotionAct(STEPprettysoonyou\'retalkingreal Act) introduced by Senator Chrismoney." VanHollen(D-MD)proposestoeliminatestepped-upbasisuponThat quote popularly attributed to deathoftheowner.Anotherbill,former Senator Dirksen, who served the For the 99.5 Percent Act (S.994)inCongressfrom1933to1969, introducedbySenatorBerniealmost seems quaint in this current Sanders (I-VT)would decrease theage where a single federal program estate tax exemption to $3.5 millioncan now easily surpass the trillion- ($7millionpercouple),amongdollar threshold. other things, with the goal to endour rigged tax code and ensure theAs the country continues to recover wealthiest people and largest corpo-fromthepandemic,Congressand rations pay their fair share. WhiletheAdministrationareactively itmightbetargetedtowardtheNPCdebating the type and size of addi- wealthiest 0.5 percent, farmers withtionalreliefthattheUnitedStates evenmodestestateswouldlikelyrequires.Akeyconsiderationin end up paying substantially more ifdetermining the size of those pack- this act is passed.Messageages is how to pay for them, and taxincreases have been suggested for at Athirdproposal,thisonebytheleastsomeofthosebills. BidenAdministration,wouldUnfortunately,somedecisionmak- require farms and ranches to shoul-ers have put tax increases for family der the burden to pay for their $1.8farms in their crosshairs as they seek trillion American Families Plan. Thereforms.proposal would mainly be paid forthroughchangestothetaxcode.To date, multiple proposals floated Those changes, including increasingby the Administration and members capitalgainstaxrates,increasingofCongresswouldrelyontax taxes on appreciated assets, and lim-increasesonfamilyownedand iting the use of like-kind exchanges,operatedfarmsorchangesinhow wouldsignificantlyburdenfamilyinheritanceistreatedtofundthe farms. increased spending. NPC is pushing back on these pro-For example, the Sensible Taxation posals along with other allied agri-10 POTATO GROWER JULY/AUGUST 2021'