It was the latest episode in an ongoing saga of statehouse Democrats grandstanding on federal issues to avoid talking about Illinois’ challenges with corruption, crime or the state’s budget deficit.
This day’s subject was agriculture.
After a decent interval of floor time was devoted to issues outside the jurisdiction of the Illinois House, Deputy Republican Leader Norine Hammond took to the floor to respond, and to encourage her Democratic colleagues to back up their words with action.
She began by introducing a group of visitors from the Knox County Farm Bureau.
“These folks are actually farmers,” Hammond said. “They are actively involved in the farming industry. And I am so glad to hear so many of my colleagues from the other side of the aisle speak to the importance of the farmers and our agricultural economy, not only in Illinois, but across the entire United States. And in that light, I look forward to you calling the estate tax (bill) to committee and to the House floor and getting it passed.”
Representative Jason R. Bunting, one of seven farmers in the House Republican caucus, soon joined Leader Hammond, issuing a challenge to Democrats to do more than give speeches, and actually take action to help struggling Illinois farm families.
“Man, I am truly, truly feeling the agricultural love on the floor today,” he began.
Bunting mentioned that he is a sixth-generation family farmer, hoping to be raising the seventh. He mentioned his kids, who “woke up this morning to tend to our livestock, to check the farm, go back into the house, get dressed up for school while their father is down here fighting for rural Illinois.”
Bunting brandished a co-sponsor slip used by members to add their names onto legislation they support and encouraged those who had given speeches about farmers to join in the effort to help save Illinois family farms.
“Show your support of someone on your side of the aisle trying to do the right thing for family farms instead of standing up and grandstanding for the world to hear.”
Speaking about House Bill 2677, he went on.
“I would like for my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to come over here to the seven farmers in this Republican caucus and let’s have a conversation. At least come over here and thank us for feeding, fueling and clothing you, your families and your constituents.”
So, what was it all about?
House Bill 2677, a bipartisan bill cosponsored by Rep. Bunting and more than 30 other members, is a desperately-needed piece of legislation that would help prevent Illinois farm families from losing their farms if there is a death in the family.
Illinois has one of the most challenging estate tax laws in the country, one which ensnares family farms and sometimes forces the sale of a piece of property just to pay the tax bill. Too often, the buyer ends up being a big out-of-state commercial agricultural venture, and the result is the loss of one more family farm.
The legislation, supported by the Illinois Farm Bureau and countless other farm groups and individual farmers, would reform Illinois’ estate tax to protect more family farms, while still collecting the tax on larger operations.
It would do so by separating estates that contain qualified farm property from other estates and raising the “exclusion amount” for farm properties within qualified estates from $4 million up to $6 million. Subsequent to this increase, the exclusion amount for farm property would be tied to inflation. The Illinois exclusion amount has not been adjusted for inflation since 2013, despite significant inflation since that year.
This change would exclude smaller farms from the estate tax, thus preventing these families from having to sell the land to pay the tax. Illinois is one of only 16 states which levy an estate tax. Our neighbors in Iowa recognized the harm of such a system and in 2024 finished the phase-out of their estate tax. Indiana, Missouri and Wisconsin do not charge estate taxes.
“Much of Illinois’ land is still owned by men and women who live on it and farm it. Unless tax policies are changed, this will no longer be the case,” said Rep. Wayne Rosenthal, another of the farmers in the House Republican caucus, speaking at a ‘Save Family Farms’ press conference in April.
“Here is another example of Illinois being at or near the bottom of a list that we should not be on. Only five states have a lower exemption threshold than Illinois,” Rosenthal added, mentioning that Illinois is out of step with most of the country when it comes to estate taxes on farms.
“It was a decimal point move on $53.1 billion,” Bunting said, referring to the minor fiscal impact the change would have had on the current-year state budget.
With bipartisan support of families engaged in Illinois’ leading industry, the estate tax reform bill would seem like a certain success story. But it was not to be, even with all the “agricultural love” shown by House Democrats in their floor speeches that March afternoon.
As with so many other good, necessary, tax relief proposals, this one was never given a hearing in the House and never received a vote. The March 5 back-and-forth on the House floor proved to be the closest thing to a floor debate held in 2025 on the issue of estate tax reform.
The very next day, March 6, the estate tax reform bill was referred to a subcommittee, never to be heard or voted upon.
It finished the spring session in the House Rules Committee.
After a decent interval of floor time was devoted to issues outside the jurisdiction of the Illinois House, Deputy Republican Leader Norine Hammond took to the floor to respond, and to encourage her Democratic colleagues to back up their words with action.
She began by introducing a group of visitors from the Knox County Farm Bureau.
“These folks are actually farmers,” Hammond said. “They are actively involved in the farming industry. And I am so glad to hear so many of my colleagues from the other side of the aisle speak to the importance of the farmers and our agricultural economy, not only in Illinois, but across the entire United States. And in that light, I look forward to you calling the estate tax (bill) to committee and to the House floor and getting it passed.”
Representative Jason R. Bunting, one of seven farmers in the House Republican caucus, soon joined Leader Hammond, issuing a challenge to Democrats to do more than give speeches, and actually take action to help struggling Illinois farm families.
“Man, I am truly, truly feeling the agricultural love on the floor today,” he began.
Bunting mentioned that he is a sixth-generation family farmer, hoping to be raising the seventh. He mentioned his kids, who “woke up this morning to tend to our livestock, to check the farm, go back into the house, get dressed up for school while their father is down here fighting for rural Illinois.”
Bunting brandished a co-sponsor slip used by members to add their names onto legislation they support and encouraged those who had given speeches about farmers to join in the effort to help save Illinois family farms.
“Show your support of someone on your side of the aisle trying to do the right thing for family farms instead of standing up and grandstanding for the world to hear.”
Speaking about House Bill 2677, he went on.
“I would like for my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to come over here to the seven farmers in this Republican caucus and let’s have a conversation. At least come over here and thank us for feeding, fueling and clothing you, your families and your constituents.”
So, what was it all about?
House Bill 2677, a bipartisan bill cosponsored by Rep. Bunting and more than 30 other members, is a desperately-needed piece of legislation that would help prevent Illinois farm families from losing their farms if there is a death in the family.
Illinois has one of the most challenging estate tax laws in the country, one which ensnares family farms and sometimes forces the sale of a piece of property just to pay the tax bill. Too often, the buyer ends up being a big out-of-state commercial agricultural venture, and the result is the loss of one more family farm.
The legislation, supported by the Illinois Farm Bureau and countless other farm groups and individual farmers, would reform Illinois’ estate tax to protect more family farms, while still collecting the tax on larger operations.
It would do so by separating estates that contain qualified farm property from other estates and raising the “exclusion amount” for farm properties within qualified estates from $4 million up to $6 million. Subsequent to this increase, the exclusion amount for farm property would be tied to inflation. The Illinois exclusion amount has not been adjusted for inflation since 2013, despite significant inflation since that year.
This change would exclude smaller farms from the estate tax, thus preventing these families from having to sell the land to pay the tax. Illinois is one of only 16 states which levy an estate tax. Our neighbors in Iowa recognized the harm of such a system and in 2024 finished the phase-out of their estate tax. Indiana, Missouri and Wisconsin do not charge estate taxes.
“Much of Illinois’ land is still owned by men and women who live on it and farm it. Unless tax policies are changed, this will no longer be the case,” said Rep. Wayne Rosenthal, another of the farmers in the House Republican caucus, speaking at a ‘Save Family Farms’ press conference in April.
“Here is another example of Illinois being at or near the bottom of a list that we should not be on. Only five states have a lower exemption threshold than Illinois,” Rosenthal added, mentioning that Illinois is out of step with most of the country when it comes to estate taxes on farms.
“It was a decimal point move on $53.1 billion,” Bunting said, referring to the minor fiscal impact the change would have had on the current-year state budget.
With bipartisan support of families engaged in Illinois’ leading industry, the estate tax reform bill would seem like a certain success story. But it was not to be, even with all the “agricultural love” shown by House Democrats in their floor speeches that March afternoon.
As with so many other good, necessary, tax relief proposals, this one was never given a hearing in the House and never received a vote. The March 5 back-and-forth on the House floor proved to be the closest thing to a floor debate held in 2025 on the issue of estate tax reform.
The very next day, March 6, the estate tax reform bill was referred to a subcommittee, never to be heard or voted upon.
It finished the spring session in the House Rules Committee.