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Eziekial wrote:I'm well aware of the hardships that would be faced by farmers if all subsides were to end. The problem is not lack of subsides, it's the property tax levied on your area. What is such an extrodinary tax being used for? What sense does it make to have someone who is a non-farmer pay not only 100% of his property tax but 90% of your tax as well? How is that in any way/shape/form jusifiable and reasonable in a free society?
10sun wrote:Do you know what this encompasses for farmers in the US who want to retain their farmland?
Currently they get a CUAV tax recoupment where they pay a greatly reduced amount of property taxes on land more than 10 acres provided it is used for commercial agricultural purposes.
If it weren't for these subsidies, they would be paying $750 a year per acre in my area in property taxes as opposed to the $75 a year per acre they are currently paying, thus making farming viable for those not part of a conglomerate.
-Adam
labbats wrote:In Iowa, pickup trucks are not charged taxes on their registration, however, my car cost me over $300 a year.
Farmers aren't those kind old gents in overalls. They all got bought out by conglomerates years ago. If someone is bored enough, I'm certain there's some kind of graph floating around the internet to substantiate this.
Lastly, the only working group that are bigger whiners than pilots are farmers.
According to calculations by the charity Oxfam, state aid allows U.S. farmers to export cotton and wheat at 35 to 47 percent of the cost of domestic production, and helps EU farmers export sugar and beef at a discount of 44 to 47 percent.
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development says the EU spends $133 billion a year on farm support and the United States around $47 billion.
Mandelson's spokeswoman Claude Veron-Reville, speaking in Brussels, said U.S. proposals on the matter would be welcome, but that a phase-out in five years was not possible.
"We have said that 2010 was not credible, but that 10 years would be too long," she said, reiterating the EU line that any deal on the abolition of farm export subsidies depended on agreement in other domains.
There was some confusion in Brussels about what exactly Bush was talking about, but U.S. officials confirmed he was referring to the phasing-out of farm aid in general, not merely subsidies for farm exports.
Supachai Panitchpakdi, head of the Geneva-based World Trade Organization, also urged the leaders meeting at the Gleneagles hotel in the Scottish countryside to make a renewed commitment to wrapping up the Doha Round negotiations.
lyion wrote:Anyways, Farmers should get the same benefits other businesses do. No more. No less.
Ironfang wrote:The real issue with farm subsidies in the US and Europe is that they can produce say wheat, and ship it to Africa for less cost than some dirt poor farmer in Africa can produce it for to eat for his local community.
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