Lets End Farm Checks And Start Farming The Land, Not The Government

UPDATE–Check out who is getting federal farm subsidies, and how much they are getting.

For a number of years Dad carried a newspaper article in his wallet that underscored the fact that farmers do not pay their fair share of property taxes.  He would take out the neatly folded article and ask people to read it.  Then when finished he would talk about the problem he felt needed to be addressed.

Dad knew of what he was talking about concerning farm land and property taxes since he served for 40 years as  Hancock Town Supervisor.   No other topic weighed heavier on his common-sense version of being an elected official than the lack of fairness over this matter.

The topics of how farmers were mis-using irrigation practices in ‘sand country’ in Waushara County where I grew up, along with the way they skirted paying their fair share of property taxes always guaranteed to get my dad animated.  In the final years of his life I knew the way to get Dad energized was to bring up farmers and property taxes.  In minutes I could move him from being subdued to being engaged in a lively conversation.

We also shared the latest information about the handouts to farmers while musing over government figures for the checks to those in the area who collected them.

Now the farm check scam has taken the interest of the Wisconsin State Journal with a punchy and most timely editorial.

Dad would have added this article to his wallet!

It’s a system ripe for savings as Congress and its “supercommittee” try to  stem the federal government’s chronic budget deficit and soaring debt.

Nobody receiving a check is doing anything illegal. And who can blame people  who own land for taking advantage of generous government incentives to plant — or not plant — crops.

Yes, a safety net for farmers hit by hard times is justified. That’s what  price support payments are for. And some subsidies encourage  conservation.

But most of the farm payments going to city dwellers in Madison last year  were part of the $5 billion in “direct payments” nationally that go to land  owners regardless of need, occupation or high commodity prices, said Chris  Campbell, an EWG analyst.

“Direct payments are just a handout,” he said. “There’s no public benefit,”  and they make it harder for young people to get into farming by inflating land  prices.

Congress should eliminate the $5 billion in annual direct payments, apply the savings to the deficit and reject calls for yet another subsidy program in its place.