New Bill in Congress to Reduce the Estate Tax for Forest Owners

Received this today from our friends at the American Forest Foundation/American Tree Farm System.  This is good news!  I urge you to get involved and urge your House member to support this bill.  Reducing the estate tax burden on family forests and farms is so important.  It will help to keep them working and providing the services we all benefit from.


Melissa Moeller
Manager, Public Affairs
American Forest Foundation
September 20, 2012

Do you know if your kids and grandkids may face an estate tax bill when your woodlands are passed down? Many family forest owners may be surprised to learn that they are at risk of facing an estate tax bill. Often, families are forced to sell their woodlands or harvest timber prematurely just to pay the tax.

Today, several members of Congress led by Representatives Diane Black (R-TN-06) and Mike Michaud (D-ME-02) introduced the "Keep the Forest and the Farm in the Family Act, H.R. 6439" to help reduce the estate tax burden on family forest owners, farmers and ranchers.

Urge your Representative to cosponsor "Keep the Forest and the Farm in the Family Act" and to maintain the current estate tax levels set to expire in December. Please act today and urge him or her to sign on to H.R. 6439 before Congress leaves town at the end of this week. (If your member has already agreed to cosponsor, you'll have the opportunity to thank them.)
  If passed, H.R. 6439 would allow forest owners --and farmers and ranchers---to pay a significantly lower estate tax (or no estate tax at all!). The legislation also removes penalties for timber harvesting in current law, allowing landowners who use this estate tax reduction to harvest timber sustainably. Timber harvesting can provide a landowner with income, and it is one of the tools that helps prevent damage from wildfires, pests, and diseases.