Kilgore says "It's time we give the death penalty to the death tax issue."

Excerpt from Pilotonline.com
Former Agriculture secretary delivers optimistic news to farmers;
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The tax is one thing responsible for the demise of the family farm, state Attorney General Jerry Kilgore told the farmers earlier in the day.

I know the back-breaking effort it takes to succeed in this business, said Kilgore, who grew up on a tobacco farm in southwestern Virginia. Kilgore told the farmers that Gov. Mark R. Warner is working on fulfilling a campaign promise about creating a Cabinet position supporting agriculture, and, he said, he hopes that the state tax restructure might eliminate the death tax.

As long as we have this tax on the books, it will unweave the structure of family farms, Kilgore said. It s time we give the death penalty to the death tax issue. The attorney general added, however, that there is great debate over the tax restructuring.

Full Text:

Former Agriculture secretary delivers optimistic news to farmers
By LINDA MCNATT, The Virginian-Pilot
December 2, 2003
Last updated: 12:52 AM

WILLIAMSBURG In his lifetime, he s been from the farm, to Washington and back to the farm again.

And on Monday, John R. Block, former U.S. secretary of Agriculture in the Reagan administration, presented more than 700 Virginia farmers with one of the first optimistic outlooks for agriculture that the group has been offered in decades.

Prices are up, Block told members of the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation, gathered at the Williamsburg Marriott for three days this week. Surpluses are down, the national economy is coming around and the beef cattle price has gone through the roof, so much so that Block said he wished the pigs back home on his Illinois farm were cows. I have observed this industry in change and transition for many years, he said. When my father was running the farm, we could harvest 100 bushels of corn a day. Today, we can harvest 100 bushels and shell it in just 7 minutes. Farming is different today. Block told the group that for 17 years he was a farmer active in his own state Farm Bureau. From there, he moved to state government and was Illinois director of agriculture when he was approached by Sen. Bob Dole, on behalf of President Reagan. Somebody had said they needed a hands-on farmer for secretary of agriculture, and I was on the list, Block said. Within a day, I was invited to California to meet the Reagans. And Ronald Reagan asked me to serve as secretary of agriculture. When he left Washington, Block said he went back to the family farm, which had increased from 300 acres in his dad s day to 4,500. Technology, above all else, has changed agriculture, Block said, and foreign competition plays a bigger role than ever before. But one thing hasn t changed. American consumers enjoy the most bountiful supply of food at the most reasonable price as any place in the world, he said. Another thing that hasn t changed is the death tax, or inheritance tax, Block said. When his father died several years ago, he said that the family paid taxes of almost 50 percent. The tax is one thing responsible for the demise of the family farm, state Attorney General Jerry Kilgore told the farmers earlier in the day. I know the back-breaking effort it takes to succeed in this business, said Kilgore, who grew up on a tobacco farm in southwestern Virginia. Kilgore told the farmers that Gov. Mark R. Warner is working on fulfilling a campaign promise about creating a Cabinet position supporting agriculture, and, he said, he hopes that the state tax restructure might eliminate the death tax.

As long as we have this tax on the books, it will unweave the structure of family farms, Kilgore said. It s time we give the death penalty to the death tax issue. The attorney general added, however, that there is great debate over the tax restructuring.

Other speakers during the event, which runs Monday through Wednesday, will update farmers on policies, financial management and economics.

The convention also serves as a forum for official Farm Bureau business.

Approximately 280 voting delegates are expected to determine state and federal policies the organization will support in the coming year.

With 142,000 members in 88 counties, the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation is the state s largest agricultural organization.

Reach Linda McNatt at 222-5561 or linda.mcnatt@pilotonline.com