My political life began in a slightly unlikely place: in the pickup with my grandfather in Donley County. A rancher by heritage and profession, he was always interested in the news and somehow imparted upon me the understanding that decisions being made a long way off affected our daily lives.
My ears would especially perk up as I would listen to my father and grandfather discuss the impact of the inheritance tax, or death tax, and the dire possibility that we would have to sell part of our land to pay the taxes.
Even at the age of 12, this seemed fundamentally unfair. Like most farmers and ranchers in the area, we weren't rich. The value of our ranch was in the land itself, not sitting in a bank somewhere.
I took it upon myself to write letters to our Senators and Representatives. There may have been a few chuckles as they read those letters I wrote at a young age, but I think I understood the basic facts. And, unfortunately, those facts haven’t changed in all these years.
The death tax is still a burden to family farms, ranches, and small businesses. It still hurts rural economies and still stops one of America’s most important means of capital formation: building a family enterprise.
The importance of my family’s work was never lost on me. We were and still are a part of the less than one percent of the U.S. population that raises safe and healthy food for people here at home and abroad. And if what economists say is true, we will need to raise 70 percent more food by 2050.
That is a challenge the agriculture community here in the 13th District is ready to meet. But unfortunately, it is made more difficult because the federal government continues to stack the cards against us with onerous regulations and fundamentally unfair taxes.
How can we continue to feed a growing population when, as each generation moves on, a piece of or the whole farm is sold off just to pay the tax bill? The federal government must stop stripping farmers and ranchers of not only our livelihoods, but our family legacies as well.
Congress has acted to raise the personal exemption, while President Obama wants to increase taxes on family businesses. But I believe that the death tax is wrong whether an estate is $100 or $100 million. You pay taxes when you earn it; you should not have to pay taxes on it again.
On the first day of the new Congress, I introduced a simple, two-page bill that would permanently and fully eliminate the death tax. I've introduced this bill several times before, and I will continue to push until the tax is eliminated. Death should never be a taxable event. The American people should be able to work hard, build, and save knowing that they can pass on what they have earned to their children and grandchildren.
