National Cattlemen’s Beef Association members are concerned about a proposed Treasury Department Rule that would eliminate or greatly reduce the valuation discount under the estate tax. NCBA Vice President Kevin Kester recently attended an Internal Revenue Service hearing on the proposal. He says without the valuation discount the cost of the estate tax would make it difficult for farmers and ranchers to pass on their operations to the next generation.

He says NCBA’s message was well received by Treasury Department officials at the hearing and so there may be a rewrite of the rule that would keep the valuation discount in place.

Kester says the Internal Revenue Service has also received many comments from others opposed to the proposed rule.

Kester says for more than 20 years livestock producers have utilized legitimate valuation discounts as a means of maintaining family ownership of operations.