Illinois farmers are no strangers to hard work, long days, and generational commitment. But when it comes to passing on the family farm, they’re facing a tax burden that threatens everything they’ve built. Despite bipartisan calls for reform, Democrats in Springfield have failed to act.
Illinois is one of just 16 states that still levy an estate tax, and its exemption threshold, currently set at $4 million, hasn’t been adjusted for inflation since 2013. That might sound like a lot, but for farmers whose value is tied up in land and equipment, it’s alarmingly easy to cross that line. The result? Families are forced to sell off acreage or assets just to pay the tax bill.
“Too many families receive a big tax bill from the state when a farm owner passes away. Grieving family members find themselves having to consider selling when there is a death in the family,” said Rep. Jason R. Bunting, a sixth-generation family farmer from Livingston County. “This tax burden hits family farms especially hard during the most difficult time in their lives, having just lost a loved one.”
In early 2025, lawmakers introduced House Bill 2677, a bipartisan proposal to raise the estate tax exemption for farms from $4 million to $6 million and tie it to inflation going forward. The bill had support on both sides of the aisle, the Illinois Farm Bureau, and farmers across the state, yet it was never given a hearing. Instead, it was quietly sent to a subcommittee and left to die in the House Rules Committee.
“This important legislation helps keep farms in the family that has worked them for generations,” Bunting said. “It increases the estate tax exemption so that the burden of these taxes will fall on fewer families.”
Meanwhile, Democrats floated a separate proposal to lower the exemption to just $2 million, a move that would have hit farmers even harder.
Even Governor JB Pritzker, who once called estate tax reform a “shared priority,” has remained silent on the issue. While some Democratic lawmakers did co-sponsor reform bills like the Family Farms Preservation Act (SB 2921 / HB 4600), leadership failed to prioritize them in budget negotiations.
The numbers speak for themselves: 96% of Illinois farms are family-owned, and nearly 70,000 families rely on agriculture as their livelihood. These families deserve action.
“Nearly one million people are employed in the food and fiber industry here in Illinois, and Illinois agriculture is critically important to the entire nation because we are among the nation’s leaders in producing soybeans, corn and hogs,” said Rep. Dan Swanson, a fifth-generation family farmer from Henry County. “Illinois agriculture products generate over $50 billion annually. In a district like mine agriculture is essential to the survival of each and every community. Even our urban areas need agriculture; not just for food, but because of the sheer number of jobs and economic activity tied to agriculture.”
Illinois farmers feed, fuel, and clothe our communities. It’s time Illinois Democrats stop treating them like a budget line item and start protecting the legacy they’ve worked so hard to build.