Tax Break For Kansas Farmers That Few Know About

Kansas Farmers Union policy supports a progressive tax.
We feel if you’re making the money you should pay the taxes.

By Sam Zeff
KCUR 89.3
Originally published on July 26, 2016

Everyone knows agriculture is huge in Kansas.

It’s a $62 billion a year industry that accounts for 43 percent of the Kansas economy and touches every part of the state.

Following the 2012 Brownback tax cuts, farmers no longer had to pay state income tax — just like 334,000 LLCs, S corporations and sole proprietorships.

But farmers get a little something extra: They also pay no state income tax on subsidies they get from Washington. They paid no state income tax on the $479,082,041 in livestock subsidies in 2014 (the last year of available data), no state income tax on the $162,264,735 in wheat subsides and no state income tax on $109,494,713 in corn subsidies.

In all, about 40,000 farmers in Kansas receive about $1 billion a year from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Even many farmers think not paying taxes on this money is a bad idea.

“Kansas Farmers Union policy supports a progressive tax. We feel if you’re making the money you should pay the taxes,” says Donn Teske, president of the Kansas Farmers Union.

Read the full article The Tax Break For Kansas Farmers That Few Know About at KCUR 89.3