50 billionaires receive unnecessary farm subsidies
These billionaires also receive large annual crop insurance payments subsidized by taxpayers.
By MSN Money Partner 1 hour ago
By Beth Hoffman
Using the Forbes 400 list of the richest people in the U.S., the Environmental Working Group has announced that 50 billionaires also received $11.3 million in farm subsidies since 1995.
And while a billionaire making on average a little more than $13,000 over 17 years might not sound like news, most of the billionaires making the list do not farm professionally, nor do they need the government assistance they receive. Yet "food stamp" benefits serving 47 million people were cut by $5 billion last Friday and Congress is debating billions of dollars in further cuts.
To add insult to injury, these billionaires also receive large annual crop insurance payments subsidized by taxpayers, but current law does not allow the USDA to disclose the identity of crop insurance policyholders. Over the same 17 year period, $44 billion in federal insurance subsidies were paid out to those growing corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton and sorghum.
A "means test" used to weed out those farmers who make over $500,000 a year in off-farm income is currently in place for some crop subsidies. But no such test exists for those collecting insurance for crops.
According to the report, those who made the list of crop subsidized billionaires include:
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