Political Quotes

“In the last tax debate, when the original bill came to the floor, that was basically the Republican tax bill, we did not see an immediate increase in the exemption for the State tax for small businesses, family-owned businesses, and family-owned farms. It was a phased-in amount that you could exempt that was over 10 years. It really was not very much. I have been hearing, particularly from my family-owned farmers, and also family-owned businesses, about the need it be exempting more of that income when there is a death and be able to protect that income. We fought hard. I voted no on that original bill because it did not have that in it. We have worked very, very hard. When the final bill was written as a result of our initiatives, we have now exempted $1.3 million for family-owned farms, started this January, $1.3 million for family-owned farms or family-owned businesses. This is the amount of money you do not now have to pay taxes on in your estate. And this was a value that we had about family business and family-owned farms. We fought hard for it, and we were able to make the change. So we have been moving. We have been taking the proposals and making them better and working very, very, very hard to make sure that we are focusing on families, we are focusing on middle-income people, small businesses, and so on.”