One of the main plotlines of Yellowstone Season 5, Part 2 features Rip, the cowboys, and the Duttons trying to sell their livestock as fast as they possibly can, but many are questioning why they have to get rid of everything.
Fans have had to keep up with a lot of moving parts in Yellowstone Season 5, Part 2. From the death of John Dutton (which Jamie may or may not have been involved in) to the Duttons potentially having to sacrifice the Yellowstone Ranch, everything seems to be going wrong for the series' protagonists.
With only two episodes remaining in the season (and perhaps the series as a whole), there is a lot to wrap up regarding Yellowstone's main story and characters.
Why Are the Duttons Selling Their Livestock?
In the past few episodes of Yellowstone Season 5, Part 2, the show has put a lot of focus on the Duttons gathering up all of their livestock in order to sell it.
For instance, the episode "Counting Coup" featured Rip, Lloyd, Colby, and Carter trying to round up all of the cattle and horses at the Yellowstone Ranch. At multiple points in the episode, they talked about finding buyers for multiple animals, such as the three-year-old horse that eventually killed Colby.
Many fans may be wondering exactly why they are selling everything since the Yellowstone is a ranch, but the answer is simple - taxes.
At the beginning of Episode 12, Lloyd and Rip were talking in the bunkhouse when Lloyd asked, "Are we out of business?" Rip then replied, "We're trying to save the business, Lloyd."
So, that established that they needed to sell the livestock in order to save the ranch, but the line that Rip spoke next revealed why.
Rip said, "Uncle Sam wants his pound of flesh and we don't want to give it to him in land."
How Does Selling Livestock Help Pay Taxes?
The Yellowstone Ranch is just like any business, person, or establishment in America - it has to pay taxes.
However, as Beth has mentioned multiple times in the later seasons of Yellowstone, the ranch has not turned a profit in a long time, so the Duttons don't exactly have enough extra money lying around to pay the government.
That doesn't mean that they can just wait until they do get some money, though; the government does not work like that.
If the Duttons don't pay their taxes, the government will take what it wants in other ways, such as in land.
That means if the Duttons don't come up with enough money, significant portions of the ranch will essentially be ripped away from them.
However, another issue is that the government will not value the land as much as the Duttons do, or even as much as a potential buyer would. So, if the government were to take some of the ranch's land in place of taxes, it would take a lot more than if the Duttons were to just pay what they owed.
For example, a 50,000-acre piece of land on the ranch may be valued on the real estate market at $52 million. However, the government does not see it in the same way. It may think those 50,000 acres are only worth $20 million in taxes.
So, the Duttons are trying to sell as much as they possibly can in order to pay their taxes so they don't have to sacrifice a single acre of land.
Yellowstone is streaming on Peacock, and new episodes air every Sunday at 8 p.m. ET.
Find out why Yellowstone Season 5, Part 2 isn't available to stream on Paramount+.
