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

Fri Jul 7 00:08:44 EDT 2006

Dave,

I have bigger fish to fry as well.  Don't mistake me as anti-farmer, I grew
up in a farm town in Illinois of 650 people.  Most of the kids I attended
school with were farm kids.  Few are now. My hometown was once a thriving
community.  Like tens of thousands of small towns throughout the MidWest, it
is almost toast. Unless of course you consider running a meth lab viable
employment. The very program that was supposed to help them put them out of
business.  This is one more example  of "I'm here from the government to
help you".  Ask me some time when I have more time to tell you the story
about doing an audit for a HUD grant while supplementing my income working
for a CPA firm.  No don't.  It will just piss me off all over again.

Here are some bigger numbers to look over. Wisconsin and milk is a minor
player. Most dairy farmers are small time players and exactly the type the
programs were designed for. Like Everett Dirkson, Senator from Illinois
during my childhood said, "a billion here, a billion there, soon
enough you're talking about real money'.

This started out as a good and necessary program that morphed into a
nightmare. We have a surplus of grain every year that drives the price down
and yet we reward big agri-businesses to grow more of the same handful of
crops to drive the price down further. This is not good for the land or the
little guy, only the absent landowner. Talk about your central
planning.  Pick any cabinet department and you'll find the same abuse.  This
is party neutral, all are guilty.

Excuse me while I prepare for tomorrow.  The IRS is auditing my 2004
return.  I have a report due the NTSB for an incident.  My FAA medical is
due next week.  I need to send a check to the MS Dept. of Transportation for
a truck being overweight, and I file the quarterly report to four different
agencies for my three employees.

Brad

    *Rank* *Recipient** *Location* *Total USDA Subsidies
1995-2004* *1* Riceland Foods
Inc<http://ewg.org/farm/persondetail.php?custnumber=009265831>
Stuttgart,
AR 72160 $533,757,334 *2* Producers Rice Mill
Inc<http://ewg.org/farm/persondetail.php?custnumber=009261264>
Stuttgart,
AR 72160 $295,006,023 *3* Farmers Rice
Coop<http://ewg.org/farm/persondetail.php?custnumber=009424840>
Sacramento,
CA 95851 $143,546,751 *4* Harvest States
Cooperatives<http://ewg.org/farm/persondetail.php?custnumber=004502015>
Inver
Grove Heights, MN 55077 $44,422,241 *5* Tyler
Farms<http://ewg.org/farm/persondetail.php?custnumber=009270251>
Helena,
AR 72342 $37,010,598 *6* Dnrc Trust Land Management -
Exem<http://ewg.org/farm/persondetail.php?custnumber=009250631>
Helena,
MT 59620 $32,049,365 *7* Sd Building
Authority<http://ewg.org/farm/persondetail.php?custnumber=006215384>
Sioux
Falls, SD 57117 $28,193,801 *8* Pilgrim's Pride
Corporation<http://ewg.org/farm/persondetail.php?custnumber=009338467>
Broadway,
VA 22815 $26,461,206 *9* Ducks Unlimited
Inc<http://ewg.org/farm/persondetail.php?custnumber=000500754>
Jackson,
MS 39213 $25,648,392   *NOTE:* Over 80 percent of the payments listed for
Ducks Unlimited are 'cost share' reimbursements for technical assistance to
restore wetlands at many locations on private lands not owned by D.U. The
technical assistance is provided to private landowners under contractual
arrangement through USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service.
*10* Missouri
Delta Farms <http://ewg.org/farm/persondetail.php?custnumber=009519413>
Sikeston,
MO 63801 $25,360,161 *11* Mt Bd Inves-sep-doane Western
Inc<http://ewg.org/farm/persondetail.php?custnumber=009375834>
Billings,
MT 59115 $20,197,864 *12* Cargill Turkey
Products<http://ewg.org/farm/persondetail.php?custnumber=004497123>
Harrisonburg,
VA 22801 $17,593,150 *13* J G Boswell
Co<http://ewg.org/farm/persondetail.php?custnumber=009439118>
Corcoran,
CA 93212 $17,290,870 *14*
Bia<http://ewg.org/farm/persondetail.php?custnumber=008407574> Ada,
OK 74821 $17,055,635 *15* Dublin
Farms<http://ewg.org/farm/persondetail.php?custnumber=009875645>
Corcoran,
CA 93212 $13,543,970 *16* Morgan
Farms<http://ewg.org/farm/persondetail.php?custnumber=009239146>
Cleveland,
MS 38732 $13,379,656 *17* Due
West<http://ewg.org/farm/persondetail.php?custnumber=009239362>
Glendora,
MS 38928 $13,233,613 *18*
Napi<http://ewg.org/farm/persondetail.php?custnumber=009396739>
Farmington,
NM 87499 $12,643,037 *19* Colorado River Indian Tribes
Farm<http://ewg.org/farm/persondetail.php?custnumber=009399029>
Parker,
AZ 85344 $12,277,405 *20* Walker
Place<http://ewg.org/farm/persondetail.php?custnumber=003181280>
Danville,
IL 61832 $11,823,765

* USDA data are not "transparent" for many payments made to recipients
through most cooperatives. Recipients of payments made through most
cooperatives, and the amounts, have not been made public.

[image: stattrax.com] [image: stattrax.com]

On 7/6/06, DCLewis1 at aol.com <DCLewis1 at aol.com> wrote:
>
>
> 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
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