Back in 2008, federal farm policies were “reformed” with a promise that wealthy, corporate farmers would get reduced government payments. After all, farm subsidies have long been promoted as a way to help “small family farmers” stay in business.
But the reforms never really materialized. Technically, caps were placed on payments to wealthy farmers. But there were so many loopholes that a little “creative accounting” let rich farms keep raking in the lion’s share of the taxpayer-supplied subsidies.
For example, some farmers who were facing sharply reduced payments were able to keep their federal “income” high by adding family members to their farm corporations.
The result, according to figures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is that 10 percent of farmers got more than 62 percent of federal subsidies in 2009. That’s about the same percentage that they got in previous years.
So much for “reform.”
For the record, farm subsidies are unconstitutional, and would be unconstitutional even if they went only to small family farms. But they are especially insulting to the taxpayers who must pay for them when the money flows to wealthy farmers.