WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) co-wrote an op-ed in Yellowhammer News with Jimmy Parnell, President of the Alabama Farmers Federation (ALFA) and a fifth-generation Alabama farmer. In the piece, Sen. Tuberville and Parnell outline how the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, signed into law under President Trump in 2017, doubled the individual death tax exemption from $5.5 million to $11 million and indexed the exemption to inflation, giving farmers much needed relief. This provision is set to expire on January 1, 2026 if Congress does not act. Sen. Tuberville highlighted legislation he is sponsoring, the Death Tax Repeal Act, which would eliminate the death tax altogether and ensure farmers are able to continue feeding American families for generations to come.
Read excerpts below or the full op-ed here.
“From dawn to dusk, farmers work tirelessly in the field while raising the next generation of producers to carry on the family’s legacy. Like all Americans, farmers experience seasons of abundance and seasons of drought. The feeling of watching a newborn calf walking gangly beside its mother or parking the picker after the final bale of cotton is rolled are certainly great moments farmers rightly relish. However joyous those small moments may be, they are followed by the daily struggles farmers know all too well.
A generational passing-down of farm ownership from grandparents to parents to sons and daughters is a tradition understood and respected across centuries of farming. However, this transition can involve a hefty tax, which often jeopardizes the future of an operation. This looming burden is referred to in the farming community as the “death tax” – or the federal estate tax – and is incurred by the passing down of an estate to heirs after the loss of a loved one. […]
America is home to over 2 million farms, with 44,000 of them in Alabama, and 97 percent of farms across the country are family-owned operations. We must protect our family farms and ensure they continue to feed American families for generations to come. As the global population continues to rise and the average age of a U.S. farmer approaches 60 years old, we should cut red tape to let our farmers focus on doing what they do best – farm.”
Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans’ Affairs, and HELP Committees.
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