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| VFBF President Wayne F. Pryor |
"As a Virginia farmer and president of the state’s largest
farmers’ advocacy organization, I would be remiss if I did not point out that
PolitiFact Virginia’s “Hurt amiss in blaming estate tax for sales of family
farms and businesses” serves to marginalize the threat that the federal estate
tax poses to Virginia’s and the nation’s farmers.
The value of family-owned farms typically is tied to
illiquid assets such as land, buildings and equipment. A strong appreciation of
land values since 2002 has dramatically increased the number of farms that
stand to be affected by the estate tax.
USDA reports from 2002 and 2013 indicate Virginia farm real
estate appreciated $2,060 per acre—83 percent—in that 11-year period. Virginia
cropland values appreciated $2,250 per acre—92 percent—in the same period.
Based on those 2013 land values, farms with more than 1,099
acres, or 1,064 acres of cropland, would reach the $5 million exemption. Based
on the 2012 Census of Agriculture, the percentage of Virginia farms that exceed
the $5 million exemption has increased from 1 percent to 2 percent, and the
number of crop producers who exceed the limit has increased from 1 percent to 3
percent.
Individuals, family partnerships and family corporations own
about 97 percent of U.S. farms, and I can assure you that 0 percent of them
build and continue their family businesses to ultimately enrich the federal
government. Perhaps, as Mr. Fiske asserts, “few families are wealthy enough to
be bothered by the estate tax,” but the farm families who are that wealthy are the ones who are producing the majority of the
nation’s food, fiber and fuel commodities.
They face a tax that penalizes them for their work and
initiative and stands to claim the essentials of their livelihoods.
Virginia Farm Bureau is grateful to Reps. Hurt, Forbes,
Goodlatte, Griffith and Wittman for their support on this issue."
Wayne F. Pryor, President
Virginia Farm Bureau
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