NW Illinois News

State Senator Andrew Chesney (R-Freeport) addressed a crowd of agriculture leaders and FFA students in Springfield on April 9. He urged Governor JB Pritzker to prioritize the elimination of the estate tax, emphasizing its detrimental effect on family farms in Illinois. Senator Chesney highlighted, "One of the biggest fights we have in the State of Illinois is what the regressive estate tax is doing to family farms."

Chesney addressed the gathering at the request of Illinois Director of Agriculture, Jerry Costello. The senator described the estate tax as a significant obstacle for children who wish to inherit and manage their family farms. "Illinois is one of only 12 states that has an estate tax, so for children who one day want to take over their family farm, their greatest hurdle by far is the regressive estate tax," Chesney stated.

He called for collaboration with legislative Democrats to pass The Family Farm Preservation Act. This legislative effort is encapsulated in House Bill 2677 and Senate Bill 1688, both seeking to exempt most small, family-owned farms from the estate tax. Chesney stressed the need to work towards bipartisan backing for these bills within the General Assembly this year.

"You simply cannot say you support family farms and then allow a regressive estate tax to be in place in the State of Illinois," Chesney remarked. "As Republicans, we are going to fight hard in the Senate and House to repeal the estate tax to save family farms. When today’s young people want to take over their family farm one day, they deserve to be able to do so without a system in place that makes it nearly impossible from a financial standpoint."

Senator Chesney's commitment to removing these financial hurdles was clear in his remarks at the Agriculture/FFA rally.