Sydney Smith, an 18th century English writer and clergyman, once advised: “Take short views, hope for the best and trust in God.” While the third part of Smith’s advice is everlasting, the first two components aren’t very conducive to running a family business today. Running a successful multi-generation ranch today takes a long-term outlook and careful planning....More

Farmers recently received some welcome tax relief for machinery and equipment purchases, says Roger McEowen, director, Iowa State University Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation...More

Repeal of the estate tax, or death tax, as it's often termed by its detractors, has long been championed by ag commodity and small-business groups...More

While many family-owned businesses have a long-term objective of passing the business on to the next generation, in reality only about 30% of all family-owned...More

Death. No one wants to talk about it, other than maybe joking around. Most of us especially hate talking about it with the folks we'll likely be inheriting...More

Books: "Passing It On: An Estate Planning Resource Guide for Wyoming's Farmers and Ranchers"...More

The type of agricultural business structure chosen will have many implications on the future of a farm/ranch business and on future generations...More

Every minute of every day, we lose two acres of agricultural land to development. That's one reason groups ranging from the American Farmland Trust...More

You can look at life insurance as an estate management tool, or as a take-it-or-leave-it kind of proposition. And most estate-planning experts would just...More

For a second consecutive year, a move to permanently repeal the estate (or death) tax died in the U.S. Senate. The push now for anti-Death Tax proponents...More

For a second consecutive year, a proposal to permanently repeal the estate (or death) tax sailed through the House only to again bog down in the Senate. In fact, the measure didn't even earn any Senate debate. The question now is whether we'll see a ......More

Like Keith Evans and Brent Langman ("Fighting The Death Tax Isn't A Cattleman's Fight," May 12 BEEF Cow-Calf Weekly), I don't think cattlemen should be fighting to kill the death tax. Current tax laws allow for approximately a $1-million, estate-tax ......More