A new California bill, if passed, could help Central Coast families retain family-owned farms and ranch land as they are passed down from generation to generation.
This week, Congressman Jimmy Panetta introduced the Preserving Family Farms Act which aims to help family-owned farms continue operations by updating the special use valuation provision of the estate tax.
Joined by Jackie Walorski (R-IN-02), Panetta s act would increase the amount of farmland that can be valued for family farming operations and decrease the amount of farmland that must be valued for development purposes when someone inherits the property.
“Estate taxes on family-owned farms have forced families to split up the land they have spent generations building,” Panetta said in a press release. “Our Preserving Family Farms Act would ease this burden by ensuring that these farms are appraised by the value of their business, rather than development value.
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Real Estate Prices Soar During Pandemic, Climbing 25% In Parts Of California Wednesday, December 9, 2020 | Sacramento, CA
In this Feb. 18, 2020 file photo a real estate sign is shown in front of a home for sale in San Francisco.
AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File
Today, that would be extremely unlikely.
The price of real estate has soared across the country since the pandemic, and California isn’t immune. Across the state, home prices are up by almost 20% and the Central Coast, a tight housing market to begin with, has been squeezed even tighter with prices up an average of 25%.
Wealthier residents of San Francisco, San Jose and even Los Angeles are flooding markets from Redding to the Central Valley, hitting each suburb in between.