Last week, Illinois legislature passed a $53.1 billion state budget. One priority for the Illinois Farm Bureau that was not included in the budget was the Farm Family Preservation Act. Warren-Henderson Farm Bureau Manager Ashlyn Quinn explains:
“The Farm Family Preservation Act, which is the estate tax law that was going to help increase that, which is so vital for all farm families to have that passed. We did make it all the way to final negotiations on that, but unfortunately it did not get included. So, right now it is sitting at $4 million, this would raise it to $6 million. It did also change it so that it was an exemption and not a threshold, so only those dollars over the $6 million would be taxed, as opposed to right now where the entire estate is taxed if the threshold is reached. It does tie the $6 million exemption to inflation. We were told it is not a no, it is just a not right now.”
However, Quinn reports that a Wetlands Bill the Illinois Farm Bureau was against did get halted for now and prevented from reaching final negotiations.
The Farm Family Preservation Act, a legislative priority for Illinois Farm Bureau, was not included in the state’s budget — for now.
IFB plans to continue fighting for passage of the legislation during veto session in November.
“What is certain is we are not giving up on this issue,” said Chris Davis, IFB director of state legislation.
In the final days of the spring legislative session, IFB issued an action request, urging members to contact their state lawmakers and ask for the act’s inclusion in the state’s fiscal year 2025 budget. More than 1,000 calls were made by members statewide. “Know that your work mattered,” Davis said, emphasizing the impact of members’ efforts.
Despite the challenging budget situation, the Farm Family Preservation Act, sponsored by Sen. Dave Koehler, D-Peoria, and Sharon Chung, D-Bloomington, was discussed among four legislative leaders and Gov. JB Pritzker. Davis said he sees this as a positive sign, indicating momentum in the super-majority to move the issue forward in the future.
However, IFB acknowledged the timing for the legislation’s inclusion might not have been ideal.
“We must remember that going into this legislative session, the budget already had a nearly billion-dollar shortfall that the legislature chose to address with revenue enhancements,” IFB noted in a statement.
There was money in the budget to pay for the Farm Family Preservation Act, but including the legislation could have opened the door for other industries to ask for changes, too. Davis said this was an issue for lawmakers as it could impact future state revenue.
Davis added that with changes from other industries in the works, state leaders are likely to wait and approve changes at the same time, causing additional delays.
The current estate tax legislation applies only to family farms eligible for the Illinois Revenue Service’s special agricultural use valuation rule. The proposed changes would raise the threshold from the current $4 million to $6 million and make the amount an exemption, not a threshold. Only dollars over $6 million would be taxed.
“We learned through this process is Illinois doesn’t track estates by source of wealth,” Davis told FarmWeek. “We were successful in getting legislation enacted that will mandate better collection of information by the state.”
Davis added that IFB’s state government team laid a solid foundation of support and will continue to push for this to be addressed in the future.
“It is hard not to be discouraged, but we need to remember — this is a marathon — substantial change is hard,” he said.
***Courtesy of Farm Week Now, Hannah Spangler***
