Congressman David Scott represents Georgia’s 13th district. The district can roughly be thought of as the area of metro Atlanta outside of the perimeter from 4:00-11:00 if the perimeter is the clock face. There are a lot of zigs and zags, particularly in the southeast portion of Scott’s district, but it is generally southwest metro Atlanta.
On the most perimeter adjacent portions of the district, it is quite urban, or at least suburban, like in Smyrna, College Park or Stockbridge. But by the time you reach the “outer” – or furthest from the perimeter – parts of the district, it is definitively rural, Lovejoy, Chattahoochee Hills, Palmetto. That rural section though is just close enough to Atlanta however that the pressures of development are quite great and threaten to radically change the lifestyles, economy and culture of those that live in those places.
A dynamic that sets up quite nicely for Rep. Scott to become House Agriculture Chairman, despite many probably wondering why a guy from Atlanta suburbs would be Ag chair.
On Wednesday, Rep. Scott’s viewpoint may have come particularly in handy during the debate over President Joe Biden’s proposal to change the capital gains taxation on inherited property. The changes have been suggested as one of the ways Biden will be able to pay for the $1.8 trillion paid leave, child care and education proposal. As reported by Roll Call, Scott sent a letter to Biden calling the proposal “untenable” and said exemptions that allow delays on payment insufficient.
“Any increase in inheritance tax for those taking over farm land is untenable and will further strain a farm economy that is just now beginning to recover from the strain of the pandemic,” Scott told Roll Call.
In the letter to Biden, Scott noted that despite his overall support for the president’s goals, the current tax proposal would put an unfair burden on farmers, ranchers and generally smaller landowners in rural America.
The suggested changes to the tax regulation could cause family farmers to break up and sell land to cover the inheritance costs, not only hurting the profitability for smaller farmers but furthering an already worrying level of land consolidation in rural America to giant corporations without any individual connections to the communities they own large pieces of.
“The potential for capital gains to be imposed on heirs at death of the landowner would impose a significant financial burden on these operations,” Scott wrote.
“Additionally, my understanding of the exemptions is that they would just delay the tax liability for those continuing the farming operation until time of sale, which could result in further consolidation in farmland ownership. This would make it more difficult for young, beginning, and socially disadvantaged farmers to get into farming.”
Farmers are among the most-skewed older of all professions in America and minority farmers are getting fewer by the day. Attracting new farmers or keeping rural residents in farming is a challenge for rural communities and those that represent them.
