??? ~ NEWS QUIZ ~ ???

[underpants]

Permanent repeal of the estate tax, which Republicans seek in order to protect the small family farm, has so far caused how many families to lose their farms to pay the estate tax?
A ) 2,015
B ) 368
C ) None, but you know just because it hasn't ever happened doesn't mean that one day, under some special set of circumstances it can't happen. Don't you care about small farmers?

http://www.ironictimes.com/0250-p3.html

[Jacobin]

1. None.

Any idiot with even a LOT of farm land can hire a lawyer to transfer the farm into a corporation, make his kids the shareholders, and engage in other perfectly legal estate planning techniques and either greatly diminish or entirely eliminate estate taxes. Besides which there is a large exemption (I think currently $1 million) so most farmers won't even need to engage in estate planning to avoid paying estate taxes.

This is all about megagazillionaires perpetuating the aristocracy of the fetid trust fund kids for generations to come.

I suppose no one in congress supporting this stuff has read late 19th century and early 20th century american history.

[underpants]

2. $1M as long as the land is "farmed" by a family member for 10 years

"farmed" could mean that they are officially the owners not that they actually do the farming. $1,000,000 is a lot of farm anyway.

[wicket]

3. "$1,000,000 is a lot of farm anyway"

It certainly is- my family has a 500 acre farm in Vermont and it is no where near worth that much.