Earlier this month, the Department of Treasury and Internal Revenue Service proposed a plan aimed at making it more difficult for family-owned businesses like many in the ready mixed concrete industry to transfer assets to heirs in order to pay a lower amount in estate taxes. Specifically, the proposed regulation contains a measure to amend valuation discounts, which is the method used to fix the value on an interest in a business to determine estate tax liability. The proposed regulation  would result in a direct increase in estate taxes on family businesses after the death of the owner. For this year, the estate tax exemption is $5.45 million per individual and $10.9 million for a married couple.