Agricultural Tax Breaks Mean Farmers Don’t Pay Their Fair Share
I grew up on a farm, and that brings with it a certain sense of rural entitlement. I remember members of my family bragging about how they “fed America” and a bunch of other nonsense. Rural Republican farmers are often the first people to complain about the handouts other people receive, but nobody ever talks about how much “free stuff” farmers get.
The truth is that there’s a very complex system in place that allows farmers to avoid the taxes the rest of us have to pay. Personally, I don’t think that’s fair. Why should farmers get tax breaks but not teachers? How can our society make good decisions when the rules we make don’t apply to everybody?
Whenever there is an election, you see the meaningless heat maps that paint rural areas red and misrepresent the support for conservative candidates. White rural areas represent the Republican base, and even though they’re often the loudest in their denouncements of “socialism,” the truth is that they receive more benefits than almost anybody else in the country.
Does this mean that I can grow a garden in my yard and then qualify for agricultural plates? Some people do try to game the system this way, but this is a question for Wisconsin state statutes. Here’s the one regarding the definition of “farm truck.” I don’t recommend you try reading it because it’s fairly incomprehensible legalese.
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