Hard to believe, the year is almost gone. I can’t even remember what happened yesterday as it went so fast. The government (dems and gop) are still fighting with the only ones losing being us, everything costs more these days, especially our health care (thanks Obamacare!) and Christmas will be here before you know it. I’m going to stay away from all the bad things economically that are on the horizon, but know they are there!
Instead, let’s look at the latest money grab from our leaders, check this out.
They Are Going To Make It Nearly Impossible To Pass On A Farm Or A Business To Your Children
If you have a farm or a small business, would you like to pass it on to your children when you die? Well, unless Congress does something, it is going to become much, much harder to do that starting next year. Right now, there is a 5 million dollar estate tax exemption and anything above that is taxed at 35 percent. But on January 1st, the exemption will go down to 1 million dollars and the tax rate will go up to 55 percent. A lot of liberals are very excited about this, because they believe that the government will be soaking wealthy people like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. But the truth is that a lot of farms, ranches and small businesses will be absolutely devastated by this change in the tax law. There are many farmers and ranchers out there today that do not make much money but are sitting on tracts of land that are worth millions of dollars. According to the American Farm Bureau, approximately 97 percent of all farms and ranches in the United States would be subject to the estate tax if the exemption was reduced to just a million dollars. That means that the children of these farmers and ranchers would be faced with a very cruel choice when it is time to inherit these farms and ranches. Either they come up with enough money to pay the government about half of what the farm or ranch is worth, or they sell the farm or ranch that may have been in their family for generations. Needless to say, most farm and ranch families do not have that kind of cash lying around. Most of them are just barely making it from year to year. So this change in the tax law is going to greatly accelerate the death of the family farm in America. This is also going to devastate many family-owned small businesses. Many small businesses don’t make much money, but they have buildings or land or assets worth millions of dollars. Children that may have wanted to continue the family legacy will be forced to sell because of the massive tax bill that they get from Uncle Sam. This is an insidious cruelty, and it shows just how broken our system has become.
The desire to leave the wealth that you have worked so hard to accumulate all your life to your children is something that is common to virtually all human societies. We want to know that future generations will be taken care of.
It is simply immoral for the federal government to swoop in and tax farms, ranches and small businesses that were intended to be passed down from parents to their children at a 55 percent tax rate.
Now this is just wrong. I’ll bet this would never been considered if the Rockefeller’s and other wealthy family’s hadn’t already passed on their wealth! Hard to believe we’ve turned into a society where the government has the right to take over half of what generations have worked for over centuries for their family’s. The lesson here is give your kids (at least on paper) some wealth now before December 31st!
Alright, today the misses is planning our Christmas party which is scheduled for December 7th. We’ve had a party, I think every year since we’ve been here, must be 10 years or more in a row. Everyone says we throw the best party’s so I guess in these trying times, it’s our duty. I remember one year we gave each guest a gift wrapped ornament. Times were a little better then. Our food is always good and of course the wine is a big hit. But more than that is the mix of people we always have. The only ones who know everyone are us. We’ll keep you posted. I think we do this every year just to show off the misses decorating.
Today is the $500 million dollar powerball. I guess we need to buy a ticket but no one in Colorado has ever won. Hard to imagine what to do with all that money. We’d give lots away and go buy a farm or build on the ranch with the rest. Horses, cows, pigs, chickens, vegetables and more would be everywhere. That’s our dream, to get out of the city and get back to the land. One way or another, we’ll get there someday.
Hope all’s well, take care and have a great day, God Bless.