Representative Mann Introduces Legislation Protecting Stepped-Up Basis In House Ag Committee Budget Mark-Up

Washington, D.C. - Today, Representative Tracey Mann introduced legislation in the House Agriculture Committee Budget Reconciliation Mark-up which would protect Kansas farmers and ranchers by preserving the stepped-up basis. Below is his full statement:

"Today, I introduced legislation that would protect farmers and ranchers from paying burdensome taxes on properties their families have owned for generations. The legislation would preserve the tax code’s stepped-up basis provision in the $3.5 trillion budget blueprint, exempting agriculture producers from paying capital gains taxes on the full appreciation of inherited land or equipment when it passes from one generation to the next.

In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower made a statement that often shapes my beliefs around my service on the House Agriculture Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives. “Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you’re a thousand miles from the corn field,” he said. 

My fellow Kansan would be sorely disappointed in Democrats on the House Agriculture Committee who placed partisan politics over what’s best for farmers and ranchers and refused to vote on my legislation during today’s markup of the nearly $90 billion portion of the $3.5 trillion budget blueprint. On my amendment and three other occasions, House Agriculture Democrats could have voted to preserve the stepped-up basis and protect farmers and ranchers from massive taxes on inherited assets that have already been subject to property and sales tax. And, on all four occasions, they rejected the protections and voted to tax farmers and ranchers over and over again on land their families have owned for generations – all in the name of paying for a reckless and incomplete spending package. 

While today’s vote is very disappointing to me, I will continue to fight for a full exemption for farmers and ranchers from new, burdensome taxes. We must protect our family farms and honor those who feed, fuel, and clothe all of us. The stepped-up basis is essential to the future of agriculture as we know it in Kansas and across the country, and I will do everything possible to ensure it is preserved."

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