The “Family Farmer” Trump Touted in His Estate Tax Push Is Already Super-Rich and Got Millions in Subsidies

I have no problem with Tom being rich. I’m glad he’s been able to make money farming. And I fully support the government not being able to tax money or goods that are handed down to children. If he earned it honestly, let him keep it. What I don’t support is the idea that we should be subsidising his farm to the tune of $3.3M in 10 years. If he can make money in a free market by farming, then great. But why should I be forced to help him with my money? Subsidizing corporations and farms and the oil industry costs hundreds of Millions a year. Let’s start looking at that and realizing that it’s welfare for the rich. They don’t need our help to get richer.

“completely eliminate the estate tax”

This tax has been called the “death tax.” I like to call it the little rich kids tax or it’s elimination the dynasty perpetuation tax relief that will protect many such as Trump’s children from using sometimes dangers tax dodges not to pay inheritance taxes. Trump is just being a good father taking care of his own dynasty family and class.

250 words is right! Now I’m not saying that subsided farming is right, or that estate tax is bad, but there is a lot of information left off the table here.
What does he farm on that 17000 acres? Is he just a cash cropper? What did that 187 year old farm start out as? How many people does he employ?
Now I dislike commercial farming for many reasons, one being they make it so hard to make a living at it when they can sell everything so cheap. Inpart because it’s subsidized. But when you throw evaluations at a lot of these farmers it’s money is in land and equipment and livestock. If he did indeed pull in 5 mill in a year, my next question is how much went out to achieve that?
Now maybe this guy is a bum, but your just playing to your base with a vague article like this. Just plain lazy, which is something no true farmer can stand.

Of course. Only rich pigs and brainwashed idiots would be opposed to this tax on the wealthy.

What should happen is that upon death of both spouses or of a single person, the estate goes to the government. Creating estates for heirs just creates fiefdoms. There could be exceptions, such as giving a home to kids so long as they actually live in it, but aside from the exceptions I’d like to see a 100% estate tax.

Back in the fall of 2013, the Indianapolis Monthly interviewed Kip Tom, who had a blockbuster tale about a conversation that he had with Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.

Kip Tom, recounting a forum he attended in Washington, D.C., as Congress debated a new farm bill:

“You’ll find this to be true with most of the new farmers: We don’t like to be subsidized,” he says. “I had this conversation with the secretary of agriculture about two weeks ago.” . . . “

He said, ‘What can we do for you, Kip?’ And I said— you probably won’t want to put this in your article— ‘You need to get the hell out of our way. Let private industry do what it does best: conduct business.’”

There is troubling evidence out there that indicates that Tom Farms, out of Leesburg, IN, is sucking up every dime it can get from taxpayer subsidies.

According to the EWG Farm Subsidy Database – from the time Direct Payments to Farmers Program began in 1995 and until the doling ended in 2014 – Tom Farms (including all family and partner names associated with the farm at its Leesburg address) has been paid $5,052,304. That, is not the only freebies, since i does not count taxpayer subsidies for crop insurance including reimbursement for losses during the drought of 2012.

Iowa State Professor Bruce Babcock puts the Crop Insurance program in perspective: “You have to remember that federal crop insurance is not an insurance program; it is a welfare program for farmers. It is a way of delivering money to farmers. It is not insurance.”

Tom Farms has 16,000 acres in Indiana, mostly in Kosiusko County – and while there are no direct statistics available, county-wide averages show that net gains on claims filed under crop insurance coverage for corn and soybeans for the period 2001-2014 would approximate $3.23 million and savings from discounted insurance premiums, paid by taxpayers at 50%, would add perhaps as much as $10 million more to the dole over 19 years of premium subsidies combined with the large crop plantings by Tom Farms likely would be a substantial part of this $10 million giveaway.

As for the inheritance tax, it is likely that legal moves have been put in place to provide all the protection possible to assure the many family owners of Tom Farms’ legal entities are off the tax hook.

We should all know better than to think trump would mention an ordinary person for any reason .

Thank you Mr. Jilani. Succinct, Pertinent and Very Relevant.

Welfare for the poor destroys their character, turning them into aimless spongers whose only goal in life is to connive benefits from the hardworking people. Whereas welfare for the rich is a well-deserved boon to boost the creation of jobs and convince them to use their resources more effectively for the benefit of the country, see.

Indeed, anything done by the poor, anything the poor are, is inherently evil, whereas the same for the rich is inherently good.

Now there is an answer for this, one toward which the Republicans have been evolving for a long time. They need to bring back Baal Hammon, Moloch, Tlaloc, Huitzlopochtli. The old, hungry gods that rewarded a sacrifice in flesh. If they can get the 10 million poorest people to “volunteer” to be sacrificed, with the assistance of some private security they hire to improve the country’s economy, then they can make America a richer place. Then they can do it the year after and the year after that for 40 years or so. By then, imagine it! Freaks in mansions who are the poorest of the poor, slaving away 12 hours a day to scrub the toilets of their betters because somebody has to do it, because they have to put on an addition in six months or fall below the county’s minimum lot size and have their house taken by eminent domain and have to rent from a mini-mansion and have their credit cut so they can’t get a toilet scrubbing job and have to go in despair to the altar to throw themselves into the fire. And so it could keep going, by millions and hundreds of thousands and thousands and tens, until the very last few, desperate to excuse their existence to the others, spend their days conniving to win and lose states in high stakes poker games lest they end up scrubbing toilets and you know what happens after that. And finally, when the very last one is left, unable to care for himself in any way, he dies off, and God and Nature sing.

The elected whores for wallstreet theives must have figured 2 things; if wallstreet can do it so can i and, wallstreet owes us for cutting them all kinds of slack and cover.

These wealthy piggies want to adorn themselves with high priced garments and homes… then parade themselves in the media to get their victims to worship their way of life and envy them. After they rob Americans into poverty their slogan is.. you shouldn’t want to live like you.

this is the same b s that elise stefanik gave to the residents of nys 21st congressional dist. the current 10 million exemption likely covers all but about 2 or 3 farms in upstate ny.
the extate tax s/b used to “break up” the family fortunes which have been around for 187 years, as well as every cent in excess of 10 mil/ per legitimate heir. the multi billion dollar fortunes amassed by the tech monopolists cannot be allowed to accumulate. during the life time of these folks we are seeing the suppression of ideas, destruction of jobs and the beginnings of censorship.
the tax rate on these fortunes s/b 60-70% while being amassed. the financial sector has used illegal means to yield disproportionate income accumulation also. then of course there are the war profiteers.

It’s interesting to watch Trump and his GOP cronies twist themselves into knots trying to convince people that their nakedly plutocratic ambitions are really about the everyday man and woman.