They Are Going To Make It Nearly Impossible To Pass On A Farm Or A Business To Your Children


Michael Snyder
Economic Collapse
Nov 21, 2012

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.

A lot of the people that are going to be affected by this change are not “wealthy” at all. A recent Fox News reportexamined what this change in the law is going to mean for rancher Kevin Kester and his family…

Rancher Kevin Kester works dawn to dusk, drives a 12-year-old pick-up truck and earns less than a typical bureaucrat in Washington D.C., yet the federal government considers him rich enough to pay the estate tax — also known as the “death tax.”

Kester told Fox News that he has no doubt that his ranch will have to be sold when he dies just to pay the tax bill…

“There is no way financially my kids can pay what the IRS is going to demand from them nine months after death and keep this ranch intact for their generation and future generations,” said Kester, of the Bear Valley Ranch in Central California.

Two decades ago, Kester paid the IRS $2 million when he inherited a 22,000-acre cattle ranch from his grandfather. Come January, the tax burden on his children will be more than $13 million.

Reading that should make you angry. Every single year, thousands upon thousands of farms, ranches and small businesses are going to be lost to the federal tax monster.

It is almost as if the federal government does not want income-producing assets to remain in the hands of the “little guy”.

What in the world are we supposed to do?

It isn’t as if all of those farmers and ranchers can go off to the big cities and find good jobs. As I wrote about yesterday, our politicians are standing aside as millions of our good jobs are shipped out of the country.

The cold, hard truth is that our system does not work for average Americans any longer. Those that roll out of bed every morning, work hard and never complain always seem to get the short end of the stick.

The people that are the backbone of America are the ones that the government is always the hardest on.

Unfortunately, we have gotten to a point where the government is searching for more “revenue” from anywhere it can because it desperately needs more money. U.S. government finances are a complete and total mess and we are drowning in the biggest ocean of debt the world has ever seen.

We are more than 16 trillion dollars in debt and there are more than 100 million Americans that are enrolled in at least one welfare program.

Someday has to pay for all this.

Middle class Americans are already hit with dozens of different taxes each year, and you can be certain that our politicians will continue to invent ways to extract even more “revenue” out of us.

And of course our politicians will never stop their wild spending. Despite all of the negotiations that have taken place over the past couple of years, our spending problems just continue to grow. For example, the federal budget deficit for the month of October was $120 billion, which was more than 20 percent larger than the federal budget deficit for October 2011 was.

So what is the solution?

Well, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner now says that he wants to eliminate the debt ceiling entirely. He says that we should just have no limit and that the federal government should just be able to go into debt as much as it wants.

In the end, all of this debt is going to absolutely crush us. We have literally destroyed the future of America, and yet most of the country still seems clueless about all of this. The blind are leading the blind, and we are headed straight for complete and utter disaster.

One day, when people look back on this period in American history, what do you think people are going to say about us?

Things only happen.When the individual/individuals allow it.

CSC, could you provide a source for this article? I'd like to send a few peole a link to the article, but not on AWRM.

Then we have this to look forward to...

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/

Thanks.

Bet folks will be wondering where the hell this comes from...

I'd say tax strike but then DHS and every asset seizing pig out there will go all out, then its back to the question of where's your line.

Guys and Gals
When the times get bad the people will be in search of leaders, protectors, and teachers. They can get this from FEMA, and DHS in the camps or they can get it from the local militia in their own homes.
The decision is the Militia's to make.

There is a change in the game coming up at the beginning of the year with the enforcement of this Obamacare stuff, but it is apparently tied to that whole "fiscal cliff" deal that the talking heads are commenting on in February.

The assets they will be talking about seizing are in fact, people, seizure and enslavement.

The trick they see is in identifying "illegal financial activity" and enforcing it down to the small level with a fine and fee system which nobody will be able to pay off so they get taken into custody and their assets liquidated. It will be done incrementally throughout society, but the case law has been built up for it over the last 25-30 years. I think a lot of current justice system people are not going to want to go along with it, and that's part of the rationale between that whole parallel federal government made up of those state-run fusion centers and "interstate compacts". It is also why the secession deals are false

As far as these "fiscal cliff" tax increases, that's not even counting the Obamacare taxes, and a new enforcement system aimed at punishing those who have cash income that goes unreported, even when that cash income is still below the poverty line.

The poor under these systems are royally screwed unless they become "clients of the system", and then by default, a socialist constituency.

Aren't you being too pessimistic on Secession.

So friend what you mean is that Secession will never happen? And if that were to be true what makes you believe that the Fed Gov or State Govs would permit those Enclaves you believe in to exist. Wouldn't the Gov just Seize those Enclaves as it would Seize everything else?

That secession petition came from your public servants in the first place, it's a honey trap to gauge who out here is hostile to the new 'murika.

Obama recently talked with the Burmese government and he was wishing that he had unfettered power in this country.

The DHS wants to double its fleet of Predator drones.

We are going to have to fight for what is ours. Enclaves, communities, taking over towns will NOT work unless enough people do it and they all fight back against any encroachment, any infringement for any reason whatsoever, or even in retaliatory spite for some other enclave, community or individual the enemy thinks they can take down. Drawing their blood with a smile is the only thing they'll understand.

The secession petitions are symbolic. They are merely a public statement of the peoples dissatisfaction. All involved realize that.

No one who signed those petitions cares if the government "has their name". Many of us down South have been on their list for years because we belong to a group that's on the governments "subversive organization" list. Guess what? None of us give a shit what the empire thinks.

Real secession begins at home, with the individual. Don't expect your State to secede if you're too lazy to exit the matrix yourself.

Goodbye 401K, Goodbye IRA, Hello Argentina



by John Galt
November 30, 2012 05:00 ET



IF anyone within the sound of my voice, the view of my pages, or with even the most remote of memories about the past five years, today’s Rush Limbaugh show will provide a stunning flashback into what I was warning about in 2007 and 2008 along with the “Talkmaster,” one Neal Boortz out of Atlanta via his syndicated radio program. More on the background later, first a brief video of the “economist” who created a plan for a mandatory national retirement program, one Teresa Ghilarducci via YouTube from May 11, 2009:





Bad enough? Nah, she’s the lightweight and irrelevant one regarding this discussion. For a true understanding of the idea behind nationalizing everyone’s retirement account unless they are a member of a union pension program, a brief historical review of the circumstances which created the impetus for this proposal.



In late 2007 the evidence of an impending economic collapse was about the most obvious event on the horizon for everyone except the blind, ignorant, or willfully born with the stupid DNA as part of their genetic heritage. Beyond the obvious signals such as distress within the real estate industry unseen since the 1930′s and structural deterioration of the financial industry, politicians were observing a futile effort by the Federal Reserve to preserve asset prices in the face of a massive deflationary tsunami and those attempts were not only failing on a monthly basis, but by mid 2008, an almost hour by hour deterioration and collapse of various programs to stem the crisis de jour. Needless to say every effort ended up a complete failure culminating with a massive stock and commodity crash which wiped out trillions of dollars of America’s wealth.



During this crisis, the Democratic Party Caucus concocted an idea which involved the nationalization of 401K’s, IRA’s, and other retirement instruments. The idea was purely political to seize control of the assets to “bail out” Social Security and provide a guaranteed return for all American citizens in their golden years, even if the retirement age is eventually extended to one hundred and two. The initial program was concocted by a tax evading Congressman from New York, one Charles Rangel and the Botox Queen of California, Nancy Pelosi. The idea was to provide a guaranteed return of 3% plus the official Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index calculation for that year. The idea was to exploit the declining stock market and unpopularity of the Bush administration by offering a “reset” which put everyone who voluntarily participated in the program (eventually to become mandatory) a pass by setting the valuation of the participant’s account back to the original value on the selected date (i.e., December 31, 2008).



The proposal was shelved however, once it became apparent just how impotent the G.O.P. was and the incompetence of their Presidential nominee during the summer and autumn time period of 2008 as the crisis accelerated. By saving this idea for a later time, the Democrats would simply accelerate and encourage the Republicans to continue on their path of self-immolation until “their man” was President of the United States.



Fast forward to the past few days and articles which suddenly started to appear as the political elites banter about the “fiscal cliff” and perceived crisis which would follow:



Does Government Want To Drain Americans’ 401(k) Plan? - Investor’s Business Daily



The 401(k) Is a $240 Billion Waste – The Atlantic



Fiscal Cliff: Why Congress Might Have to Mess with the 401(k) – Time Magazine



And finally, Rush Limbaugh’s take during his ratio program from his website:



Details: The Plan to Steal Your 401(k)



The final story provides a little enlightenment as to why Professor Teresa Ghilarducci is now being used as cover for the proposal; if Pelosi’s or Rangel’s name were attached to such an idea it would immediately become radioactive and create a firestorm of opposition. The Democrats and Progressives have learned the methodology known as the “Chicago Way” from the Obama regime and now understand that using their propaganda arm, the media, to soften the beaches for such a drastic proposal is a necessary evil for the dumbed-down masses.



Thus the socialized healthcare approach has begun with the “oh the poor have no real retirement” and “it is not fair that the wealthy have a good retirement and the middle class gets the crumbs,” and other such tripe. The initial softening is not enough to raise the ire of the population at this time and the drastic final curtain call must come down in my opinion to implement the nationalization of American citizen’s retirement accounts.



At this very moment, President Obama is grinning like the proverbial Cheshire cat. By carefully manipulating the ignorant and cowardly Republican leadership into an agreement to raise the debt ceiling, he created the fiscal cliff opportunity just when it was needed after his re-election. The President can ignore the pleas of the GOP and hold steady to his demand for higher taxes on the wealthy only while refusing to cut any spending other than in the Defense Department. Thus odds are better than 75-25 that the GOP will hold firm, receive the blame for the nation going over the fiscal cliff of their own design and the resulting economic downturn.



Downturn?



Yes, as in massive recession.



Starting in January 2013, de facto capital controls will be in place (see If You Can Get out of the United States, I would suggest you GET OUT NOW), payroll and numerous other taxes will increase on wage earners, and the upper income brackets will endure a 44.8% effective tax rate which does not include state taxes, increases in the estate tax rate, and proposed fees to be imposed on investment vehicles still winding their way through the bureaucracy. After two months of pain from the increased witholding from paychecks and a rapid decline in equity prices that I project will be 18-34% from current levels the American public will freak out demanding action to save their retirement and stop the economic contraction.



This is the only opening that the Democrats will need to strong arm the Republicans into an absurd piece of legislation which will encompass everything from guarantees for union and government pension programs to expansion of Social Security benefits. In the end, no matter what is said or done, the Republicans will cave as they have done with Obamacare funding and fail to prevent their weak progressive arm of the party from following the Democratic leadership like lemmings off the cliff. The myth that the Obama legacy will be impacted needs a rapid refresher to the reader as can anyone reading this piece remember any actions Obama took in March of 2009? The majority of Americans do not and could care less as long as their retirements are made whole, their paychecks restored to healthier levels, and the price of iThings is affordable or can be financed with Federal Reserve funny money.



Amazingly enough, unlike the reaction of the citizens of Argentina where they started bombing Citibank ATM’s in retaliation, most Americans will bleat like sheeple as long as their television schedule is unimpeded and their iPad WiFi connections are still free.



The question then becomes one of managing the trillions of dollars of investment instruments the government seizes and what rate of compensation those firms would receive. To find out the most likely participants in such an arrangement, simply look up the Wall Street firms which donated to the Obama campaign and who just happen to be Primary Dealers for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The deal is too sweet for the Fed as their firms can now boost their balance sheets and launder more bad debt by simply labeling it as AAA paper and putting into the massive government retirement pools. After all, who within the U.S. Treasury would dare to question the viability of a $14 trillion account managed for the government by Wall Street’s best and brightest?



As far-fetched as this idea is, five years ago, socialized healthcare in America was considered laughable. If one takes a moment to review how nationalizing all of the retirement programs could cure several problems at once, it becomes a logical and potentially nightmarish scenario:



1. Cures the solvency issues of major financial institutions.



2. Provides the illusion of solvency for the Social Security program.



3. Gives American citizens the false perception that they will have a solvent and safe retirement vehicle with no taxation or management concerns as the government takes care of everything.



The unforeseen final benefit for those in power, especially those at the Federal Reserve and central banks around the world is that by seizing these assets, America will appear to be stable enough to take a leadership role in the establishment of an I.T.U. (International Trade Unit); also known as a single world currency.



Of course, once you have a single world currency for nations to participate in, a one world government to manage it must follow.

I actually read that dumb article in The Atlantic[/b] , "The 401(k) Is a $240 Billion Waste." Don't bother reading it yourself.

The article's premise is that government is "subsidizing" the 401(k) program, because they're not taxing it. (Not taxing something, according to these folks, is the same thing as subsidizing it.

It has apparently escaped the author's attention that [b]401(k) contributions and gains are, indeed, taxed. They are taxed at the time the funds are withdrawn, not at the time the funds are placed into the account, but every penny ends up being taxed. Which makes the entire premise of the article a lie.

I've not read the other articles mentioned, but if they're based on reasoning like this, I don't think our 401(k) accounts are in any serious danger anytime soon. We do have a Republican-controlled House, and while they're generally as economically-challenged as the Democrats, I just don't see this proposal gaining any traction.

Onward and upward,
airforce

The only way the Fed Government or the State Govs can Make you do anything is by you following what they say and not shooting them wen they show up to enFORCE it.

We the people have allowed them to make this country and world the shit hole it is because we keep following their demands and continue to allow them to continue without fear.