Tax Plan Boosts Illinois Land Prices; Many Youngsters Cannot Compete for Acreage

Summary

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After working on a northern Illinois farm that has been in his family for 151 years, Rob Sharkey itched to break out on his own. But when land prices ballooned to triple what he could afford for a down payment on 80 acres he coveted, his dreams withered.

The 31-year-old Stark County farmer near Bradford blames something called 1031 tax-deferred exchanges, a federal tax code provision widely criticized for jacking up farm prices in Illinois and elsewhere beyond the reach of fledgling farmers and others seeking to expand.

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Extract

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Tax Plan Boosts Illinois Land Prices; Many Youngsters Cannot Compete for Acreage

Under such transactions, investors - many of them farmers - are fetching top dollar for their land, which has become valuable for ur...

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