{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.hydesmith.senate.gov/tax-increases", "TAX INCREASES", "2021-07-21", "2021", "2021-07", "Republican", "Senate", "MS", "Cindy Hyde-Smith", "H001079", "www.hydesmith.senate.gov", "hydesmith", "https://www.hydesmith.senate.gov/newsroom", "scraper", "TAX INCREASES\n\nCongressional Record Vol. 167, No. 128\n\n(Senate - July 21, 2021) PDF\n\nMrs. HYDE-SMITH. Mr. President, I appreciate the opportunity to join\n\na number of my colleagues representing farm States to sound the alarm\n\nto the millions of rural Americans who will be harmed by proposed tax\n\nchanges outlined in the American Families Plan. Described as a plan to\n\nhelp American families, it would do the exact opposite for farm\n\nfamilies across the United States.\n\nThe most concerning changes to the Tax Code include decreasing the\n\nestate tax exemption, increasing capital gains tax rates on transfers\n\nof property to heirs, and increasing taxes on appreciated assets, such\n\nas farmland, which has increased in value very significantly in recent\n\nyears.\n\nThese misguided proposals fail to take into consideration the fact\n\nthat farmers in general are highly vulnerable to these types of tax\n\nchanges, as land and equipment comprise most of the farmer's net worth.\n\nIf enacted, these tax provisions would strongly discourage and make\n\nit more difficult for our next generation to get into farming. The\n\nprovisions would create significant hurdles from a financial\n\nperspective, to say the least.\n\nWith the average age of U.S. farmers being nearly 60 years old, do we\n\nreally want to force surviving spouses or heirs to sell half of the\n\nfarm they inherited simply to continue farming the land that has been\n\npassed down for generations?\n\nFamily farms are the backbone of American agriculture. Roughly 98\n\npercent of all U.S. farms are family owned and operated. Whether you\n\nlike large family farming operations or not, they account for 44\n\npercent of total U.S. farm production annually. That is a staggering\n\nfigure, given that American farmers contributed $136 billion to the\n\nU.S. gross domestic product in 2019. These people who put food on our\n\ntable and clothes on our back do not need to go out of business because\n\nthey are being taxed at every turn, punished for their achievements and\n\nsacrifices.\n\nInitial reports from the Biden administration suggested that the\n\nproposed tax changes I am discussing would have very little impact on\n\nAmerica's farmers and ranchers. However, recent research and analysis\n\nconducted by Texas A&M University paints a very different picture.\n\nFor instance, should the proposed capital gains tax changes and\n\ngenerational transfers become enacted into law, nearly all U.S. family\n\nfarms would face higher taxes. Nationwide, the average additional tax\n\nliability per farm under the capital gains tax change would be\n\n$726,104. Mississippi would be the State most heavily affected, with an\n\naverage additional tax liability per farm of $2.1 million. It is\n\ntotally unbelievable.\n\nShould the estate tax changes become law, recent analysis also\n\ndetermined that nearly half of all U.S. family farms would face higher\n\ntaxes. The average additional tax liability per farm nationwide would\n\nbe $2.2 million, and the fifth most heavily impacted State would again\n\nbe Mississippi, with an average additional tax liability per farm of\n\n$4.6 million. That is totally incredible. As a former ag commissioner\n\nof Mississippi, I personally know these farmers and their families.\n\nThis is truly unbelievable.\n\nMore than 3 years of net cash farm income would be needed to meet\n\nthese additional tax obligations alone. That is simply unmanageable. I\n\nam perplexed as to why Democrats want to place the highest tax burden\n\non one of the most economically challenged and socially disadvantaged\n\nStates in the Nation, my home State of Mississippi.\n\nLet's not forget that in rural America, the primary source of jobs\n\nand income are often associated with agriculture. It is the No. 1\n\nindustry in Mississippi, employing more than 17 percent of the State's\n\nworkforce either directly or indirectly.\n\nIf family farms are taxed out of business, far more than the farmers\n\nwill suffer. Low-income and minority populations across rural America\n\nwill lose jobs and be forced to rely on government support. I hope this\n\nis not the underlying plan of my Democratic colleagues.\n\nLet me be clear. For those who are willing to pay for reckless\n\nspending by punishing America's farmers and ranchers and everyone who\n\nrelies on them, you will be doing far more than just that. You will be\n\nrunning off our next generation of farmers. You will be making it\n\neasier for large corporations owned by foreign adversaries, such as\n\nChina, to buy up available farmland, and you will be ensuring that\n\nevery American pays more for the food they eat and the clothes they\n\nwear. The list goes on.\n\nI know there is a deep desire on the other side of the aisle to enact\n\na reckless tax-and-spending spree that makes Americans more dependent\n\non the Federal Government, but family farms cannot be caught up in the\n\nadministration's punitive dragnet to find ways to pay for it.\n\nAny changes to the Federal Tax Code should be geared toward\n\nsupporting economic growth and helping the next generation keep these\n\nfamily-owned operations alive. I hope that we can all come to our\n\nsenses on this.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:03:51Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.hydesmith.senate.gov/tax-increases"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.1808119490742683, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}