[Rhodes22-list] Reduce your federal income tax (political humor)

[DCLewis1 at aol.com]

Brad,
 
If my responses seem late it’s because I'm trying to limit my time on this  
board.  This board could tie up my whole day every day.    
 
I don't think Bill, I, or anyone is trying to defend Mr Dunavent, or  
whoever.  There are abusers for any legislation - he may be one. I'd agree  that some 
farm subsidies need serious adjustment.   There was a series  of articles in 
The Washington Post last week to the effect that some  farm land that was 
subsequently used for houses by developers still  qualified for farm subsidies - 
because the land was once farm  land.    Homeowners in Texas had bought their 
new  houses, built on 4 acres of land, and qualified for farm subsidies.  No 
way  the homeowners intended to farm that land, the home owners that were  
interviewed were embarrassed to get the $.  So we agree, there are  problems.   
 
But one result of the data you posted is my realization that farm  subsidies 
may not be a BIG problem.  For example, the top 6 "rich"  Wisconsin farmers 
you identified for Rummey together netted less than $3M,  as I recall - that's 
not a lot of $ for  the whole state of  Wisconsin.  In fact, your $53/person 
calculation makes me think there  are much bigger national problems to be 
addressed.  I don't know how big  your household is, whatever it is multiply that 
number by $53, now what fraction  of your federal income tax does that 
represent?  Pretty small, huh? And  really just relating it to your household income 
tax, as opposed to adding in  business tax revenues, etc, that you generate 
maximizes the impact of those  subsidies - it’s really not big number.  Still, I 
completely agree,   farm subsidies and their abuse are issues that should be  
addressed and the laws should be tweaked as appropriate - the realization that  
it's not a lot of $ is not a justification for wasting it.
 
Dave