Representative Thomas Massie announced on May 1 the introduction of H.R. 8591, known as the No Capital Gains Tax on Family Farms Act. The legislation aims to remove capital gains taxes when a farm is sold or exchanged between family members, including children, siblings, cousins, and their spouses. Representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez is co-leading the bill.
The proposed change matters for many farming families who face financial pressure from current tax laws. By eliminating capital gains taxes in these situations, supporters say it will help keep farmland within families and reduce incentives to sell productive land to developers or data center operators.
“This bill will allow farmers to sell their land to family members without being forced to pay punitive capital gains taxes,” said Rep. Massie. “This change to the tax law will help sustain America’s multi-generational family farms by reducing the financial pressure on landowners to sell productive farmland to real estate developers and data center operators.”
Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez said: “The wealth and health of our nation is married to the soil health and vitality of our farms-this bill recognizes that we need to change financial structures to advance the generational work of good farming… Current tax policy breaks up generations of work and planning. The end result of that approach is an erosion of national health- I’m glad to work with my colleague on a solid step towards keeping farmland together and working.”
Under current law, if a farmer sells land directly to a child before retiring, significant capital gains taxes are incurred. The new legislation would allow such transfers without this tax burden by excluding these gains from gross income for qualifying transactions between family members.
To prevent quick resale for profit, recipients must hold onto the property for at least ten years at its original value before any adjustment in basis occurs; after ten years, it steps up in value based on fair market rates at transfer time.
Massie has represented Kentucky’s 4th district in Congress since replacing Geoff Davis in 2012 according to his biography. He previously served both in Kentucky’s House of Representatives and as Lewis County Judge Executive as reported by Congress.gov. Massie was born in Huntington, West Virginia in 1971 and currently lives in Garrison according to local news sources. He graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1993 according to campaign records.
Original cosponsors include several representatives from both parties. The full text of H.R. 8591 can be found online.
