[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 128 (Wednesday, July 21, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4992-S4993]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Biden Administration

  Mr. President, now, on another matter, President Biden campaigned on 
a pledge not to raise income taxes on the vast majority of Americans. 
But the latest reckless taxing-and-spending spree that Democrats are 
cooking up would crush our country with a historic set of sweeping tax 
hikes.
  Here is one of the targets in their crosshairs: Family farms.
  It appears our colleagues' plan will eliminate tax rules that allow 
family property to be passed down to the next generation without facing 
a new devastating tax burden.
  Without the fix in question--the so-called stepped-up basis for 
capital gains taxes--scores of family businesses across America will 
feel a massive squeeze.
  In States like mine, family farms drive the rural economy. But as I 
have heard from many of my State's family farmers, it is operations 
like theirs that are especially--especially--at risk.
  One Kentucky farmer said his family has worked the same land in 
Muhlenberg County for 150 years. He had hoped--hoped--to one day pass 
his property along to his children, just like it was passed along to 
him. But after generations spent improving and investing in the same 
farm, he is worried it could all be gone in the blink of an eye.
  Another Kentuckian described how her family, like many farmers, is 
asset rich but cash poor. If the stepped-up basis is eliminated, her 
family could lose the home, barns, machinery, and fields that have been 
their life's work.
  The Farm Bureau in my State warned that what Washington Democrats are 
trying to do would penalize farmers for wanting--for wanting--to 
continue a tradition, which we all depend upon. If the stepped-up basis 
is eliminated, generations of accumulated work would be ripped--
literally ripped from the hands of America's farming families.

[[Page S4993]]

  Family farming in the Commonwealth isn't just a way of life; it is 
considered a birthright. But if Democrats foist this bill for their 
reckless taxing-and-spending spree on rural America, a lot of this 
heritage could be literally ripped out of families' hands and put on 
the auction block.
  And who will gobble it up then? Who will buy this land?
  One recent report suggested that one of the biggest bidders for 
American family farmland these days is actually the Chinese.
  Later today, Ranking Member Boozman and some of our colleagues on the 
Agriculture Committee will be coming to the floor to sound the alarm 
about the ways that Democrats' reckless tax-and-spend spree could 
threaten farm families and rural America.
  Deaths should not be a taxable event. The family farms that help feed 
us deserve our support, not sabotage from Washington