Estate Tax May Take Family Farms | Eastern North Carolina Now

   Publisher's note: This post, by Matt Willoughby, was originally published in the Budget & Taxes of Civitas's online edition.

    Members of North Carolina’s Revenue Laws Committee are considering drafted legislation to repeal the state’s death tax. North Carolina’s death tax is tied to the federal estate tax. Thus, as of Jan. 1, 2013, both the federal and the state tax will be applied to estates with assets of $1 million or more (the previous exemption was $5 million). The lower exemption means that more and more small businesses and family farms will be subjected to the tax, jeopardizing the rights of the owners to pass down their property to their heirs.

    State lawmakers are concerned about the loss of revenue to the state if the estate tax is repealed, but the amount collected will amount to less than one percent of state revenue.

   To be sure, the death tax has a real impact on real families. View the three minute video below to see the stories of two North Carolina farming families concerned that the death tax may force them to give up the farmland that had been in their family for generations.