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surfered

(8,045 posts)
Tue Jul 22, 2025, 10:49 AM Tuesday

Trump's Dementia

Donald Trump, bragging about his big, beautiful bill: “Very importantly for Iowa, this bill rescues over 2 billion family farms from the so-called estate tax or the death tax."

(Fact: Iowa cannot possibly have 2 billion family farms as the current population of the state is only a little over 3 million)




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Trump's Dementia (Original Post) surfered Tuesday OP
"Death taxes". Maga talk Walleye Tuesday #1
And the only farms lost to taxes.... HuskiesHowls Tuesday #7
Taxes are a privilege not a penalty. Walleye Tuesday #8
My grandmother always told me, "No one ever got poor paying taxes." sarchasm Tuesday #16
I think nobody completely agrees with the way our tax money is spent.But I don't consider Medicaid to be "spending money Walleye Tuesday #29
Math OrangeJoe Tuesday #19
Your comparison is a bit off. Under Biden, the exemption was $27.2 million per couple. Ms. Toad Tuesday #26
Or they could just give their farm to their heirs before they die Walleye Tuesday #31
Not always possible. Ms. Toad Tuesday #32
My mistake OrangeJoe Yesterday #53
So here's another twist. Ms. Toad Yesterday #58
I have very little sympathy for someone who owns a farm worth over $13 million Walleye Tuesday #30
I guess you are unfamiliar with the concept of "land rich, and cash poor." Few family farms have a lot left over for Martin68 Tuesday #39
I take your point. My mom face the same situation of being land poor during the Depression Walleye Tuesday #45
As I understand it & I could be wrong. OrangeJoe Yesterday #54
That is true. Land that is actively farmed is valued for taxation purposes at a much lower rate than residential land. Martin68 Yesterday #59
They're small farms atreides1 Tuesday #2
Census. 83000 between family farms and coops. bullimiami Tuesday #3
"Like" a toddler?? AZ8theist Tuesday #40
Think of the media frenzy if BIDEN had said the same thing. Paladin Tuesday #4
Yep. "...the mainstream media's loathsome double standard..." calimary Tuesday #10
I admire your obvious experience and expertise. (nt) Paladin Tuesday #23
Awwwwwww, thanks, Paladin! calimary Tuesday #36
I have a daughter whose middle name is Elizabeth. Paladin Tuesday #41
I figured if it was good enough for a queen and a saint, it was good enough for my baby! calimary Tuesday #42
I heard it was 2 trillion farms Johnny2X2X Tuesday #5
It was 2 brazillion farms. Now how much is that? madinmaryland Tuesday #46
surfered.............. Upthevibe Tuesday #6
Math is so woke Botany Tuesday #21
To be fair, he didn't say there are two billion family farms in Iowa DavidDvorkin Tuesday #9
Still doesn't quite math dpibel Tuesday #11
Oh, sure, it's still nonsense DavidDvorkin Tuesday #20
If every person in China owned a farm it woudn't be 2 billion farms. Add the entire USA to that and it still would be twodogsbarking Tuesday #12
trump ass numbers. pansypoo53219 Tuesday #13
Pigs evilhime Tuesday #14
He gets certain numbers stuck in his head and recycles them out of place. jmbar2 Tuesday #15
THAT statement - "Trump Media bought $2 billion in bitcoin..." is 99% of the problem with this country. Moostache Tuesday #27
I imagine it's too much to expect that Jake Tapper would notice. Vinca Tuesday #17
Nah. He's just focused on which big interview is coming next. calimary Tuesday #43
I'll trust Google's AI Overview over Prez Puffy on this one BaronChocula Tuesday #18
According to the latest numbers, only 0.3% of all family farms were Wiz Imp Tuesday #22
He meant 2 billionaire family farms. Ptah Tuesday #24
Aside from the impossible number of farms, the current number is $27,980,000 for a married couple. Ms. Toad Tuesday #25
Dementia plus Lies equals Nightmare for All Chalco Tuesday #28
How can you tell he's not just outright lying as usual? live love laugh Tuesday #33
The fuck? Fucking Iowa in his mind must be bigger than China. Karasu Tuesday #34
"Stable genius". Smart enough to rake horseshit. oasis Tuesday #35
I think that is supposed to be "2 billion (dollars worth of) family farms" eggplant Tuesday #37
Yeah, that's what I thought when I saw this. It's a shame though. C Moon Yesterday #55
Or because there aren't 2 billion farms in the country Picaro Tuesday #38
Don't forget while talking about farms that MW67 Tuesday #44
Will Iowa Magats notice, or care? No. The good news is that as Phoni Joni Hassler Tuesday #47
In the ever accurate words of Representative Jasmine Crockett Attilatheblond Yesterday #48
Where'd that number come from? Did a search and msn.com has it a tad lower than 2 BILLION farmers in Iowa Attilatheblond Yesterday #49
But each Iowan JDAcme Yesterday #50
AI hallucinations are more tethered to reality than that. dgauss Yesterday #51
How's this differ from his pathological lying? live love laugh Yesterday #52
It doesn't matter lonely bird Yesterday #56
Come on, each corporate family MIGHT own 3M other ones? Brainfodder Yesterday #57

HuskiesHowls

(722 posts)
7. And the only farms lost to taxes....
Tue Jul 22, 2025, 12:33 PM
Tuesday

either the kids didn't want the farm, or somebody didn't do proper estate planning.

Walleye

(41,475 posts)
8. Taxes are a privilege not a penalty.
Tue Jul 22, 2025, 12:34 PM
Tuesday

I always think someone complaining about taxes is really bragging about their income

sarchasm

(1,268 posts)
16. My grandmother always told me, "No one ever got poor paying taxes."
Tue Jul 22, 2025, 01:09 PM
Tuesday

Paying penalties maybe, or poor planning perhaps, but if you're paying taxes, you're making money... Taxes are the dues you pay to be a member of this big club we're all in. The problem is I don't like paying for the "ICE force" and would rather give teachers a raise and spend more on education.

Walleye

(41,475 posts)
29. I think nobody completely agrees with the way our tax money is spent.But I don't consider Medicaid to be "spending money
Tue Jul 22, 2025, 03:51 PM
Tuesday

OrangeJoe

(511 posts)
19. Math
Tue Jul 22, 2025, 01:19 PM
Tuesday

Not only are there waaaay fewer than 2 Billion farms in Iowa, the estate tax under Biden exempted the first $13.6 million was exempt from taxation. How many farms have a net worth over that amount? The 2025 tax give away bill kicked that up to $30 million per couple. One more win for the children of the rich.

Ms. Toad

(37,349 posts)
26. Your comparison is a bit off. Under Biden, the exemption was $27.2 million per couple.
Tue Jul 22, 2025, 02:56 PM
Tuesday

It is a very modest kick up to $30 million per couple.

My parents' farm in the state next door (which supported two families) is valued at around $8 million - or was before reciprocal tariffs, cancelled contracts from abroad, and cancelled foreign food aid made production of crops less valuable, driving down the value of the land.

So, yes - this is a tax breach for children of the rich. The typical family farm can already be passed down to children who want to continue farming, free of estate taxes).

Ms. Toad

(37,349 posts)
32. Not always possible.
Tue Jul 22, 2025, 04:03 PM
Tuesday

Estate tax is actually gift and estate tax. Currently, you can gift $19,000 per person per year during your life without having to include it in the Gift and Estate tax. If you give a larger gift, you have to report it annually and the estate pays taxes on it when you die.

So you would have to slowly gift the farm over time. Say a couple wanted to gift the farm to their daughter and her wife. That means they can gift $76,000 of their farm each year. For my parents to have gifted their farm to me and my wife would have taken 105 years. Any gift larger than $76,000 has to be reported and tallied each year - and that reported excess isn't taxed at the time of the gift - it counts toward the (currently) $13.999 million exemption ($27.998 million for lifetime).

OrangeJoe

(511 posts)
53. My mistake
Wed Jul 23, 2025, 02:58 AM
Yesterday

I misread the old exemption number, failing to note that the $16.6 million number was per person, not per couple, I stand corrected. I still maintain that a $30 million farm is most likely corporate owned and for many years has enjoyed generous subsidies and other tax breaks. Let's say it's worth $40 million. The tax due would then be 40% of the $10 million in excess of the deduction. That's very affordable.

Ms. Toad

(37,349 posts)
58. So here's another twist.
Wed Jul 23, 2025, 11:33 AM
Yesterday

Our family farm was a corporation. It supported two families - our family and my father's cousins family. Being a corporation, and working as employees of the corporation, has certain advantages - like being able to buy health insurance for example. We weren't any richer - we still filled out the free school lunch applications every year because we were that close to qualifying. The year I started teaching, with a salary of $10,005 was also the first year my father made that much money.

But I agree that most farms worth more than $30 million are probably owned by non-family corporations.

But here's the kicker . . . Corporations aren't eligible for the gift and estate tax exemption. So a farm owned by a corporation isn't included in the exemption anyway.

In our case, the land was owned by my parents and leased to the corporation, so unlike true corporate farming, it will be part of their estate. And for others similarly situated, regardless of how reasonable you believe the taxes are - most farmers are land rich and cash poor. My father was out of debt for a few days last year it was the first time in 70 years of farming he had been out of debt. (He's in his 90s, leases the land to neighbors in a way that still requires active involvement in the farm finances.) So ultimately our land will be sold, and it might present a temporary cash flow problem to pay the taxes, but it wouldn't be a disaster since the next generation isn't farming. If the kids wanted to farm, however. coming up with the cash to pay a $4 million tax bill would likely mean selling off land the kids needed to farm.

Walleye

(41,475 posts)
30. I have very little sympathy for someone who owns a farm worth over $13 million
Tue Jul 22, 2025, 03:52 PM
Tuesday

Who do they think and what do they think is protecting their right to own that land

Martin68

(26,192 posts)
39. I guess you are unfamiliar with the concept of "land rich, and cash poor." Few family farms have a lot left over for
Tue Jul 22, 2025, 06:01 PM
Tuesday

discretionary spending and savings. Most of a family farmer's money is tied up in the value of the land (which is based on the value of the land if it is subdivided for residential use) and investments in vey expensive equipment. Maintenance is an enormous expense. They are at the mercy of weather, pests, and fluctuating prices of the produce they sell as well as the cost of fertilizer, seed, fuel - and trade policy.

Walleye

(41,475 posts)
45. I take your point. My mom face the same situation of being land poor during the Depression
Tue Jul 22, 2025, 09:56 PM
Tuesday

OrangeJoe

(511 posts)
54. As I understand it & I could be wrong.
Wed Jul 23, 2025, 03:00 AM
Yesterday

I think there have been changes so that for tax purposes farmland is no longer valued at its highest use, i.e. subdivisions.

Martin68

(26,192 posts)
59. That is true. Land that is actively farmed is valued for taxation purposes at a much lower rate than residential land.
Wed Jul 23, 2025, 12:17 PM
Yesterday

However, the value of the land were it to be subdivided for residential use is often quoted in evaluating a farming family's wealth. As long as they farm the land, they have no access to the capital they could earn if they stopped farming and sold the land for subdivision.

atreides1

(16,799 posts)
2. They're small farms
Tue Jul 22, 2025, 10:54 AM
Tuesday

It's like having 5,000 businesses located in one small building in the Cayman Islands...

The reality: In the United States, family farms represent the vast majority of farms, accounting for 95% of the 1.9 million farms and ranches. These family-owned and operated farms manage 84% of the total land in farms.

bullimiami

(14,047 posts)
3. Census. 83000 between family farms and coops.
Tue Jul 22, 2025, 10:59 AM
Tuesday

Less than 2 billion. He’s like a toddler.

Paladin

(31,099 posts)
4. Think of the media frenzy if BIDEN had said the same thing.
Tue Jul 22, 2025, 12:09 PM
Tuesday

I know, I know---the whole "What If Biden Did It" trope gets beaten to death here at DU---but the mainstream media's loathsome double standard regarding trump's daily/hourly/minute-by-minute lunacy needs to be called out, over and over and over again. We're suffering to the point of national annihilation because Kamala Harris isn't President---and the media's addiction to trump stories that write themselves is a big reason why she isn't.

calimary

(87,121 posts)
10. Yep. "...the mainstream media's loathsome double standard..."
Tue Jul 22, 2025, 12:48 PM
Tuesday

THAT says it all. THAT tells you everything you need to know.

And having been part of that “machinery” when I was still working, I know how that goes. You’re tempted to at least “go a little easier” on someone you want access to. If you want an interview, you make like you’re on their side, or at least you’re very interested in HEARING their side, from their own words. There are ways to appear sympathetic, even though it’s the big dirty payoff you’re after. “I just want to give you a chance to respond…” or even better, “I think you deserve to have a chance to respond…” or nowadays, use a phrase like “…wanted to give you a chance to share your truth about … “

Frankly, that phrase “your truth” just blows me away! I wonder who came up with that, or recommended its use. What a manipulation!!! It’s deviously brilliant. Especially because the word “truth” is in there, and that’s likely to throw a lot of unnecessary “wiggle room” for those who want to sound good and noble and honest and truthful - without actually being anything of the kind.

calimary

(87,121 posts)
36. Awwwwwww, thanks, Paladin!
Tue Jul 22, 2025, 05:32 PM
Tuesday

I worked through both pregnancies. MAN was I huge! Lots of water weight!

You just made me think back to one of the times I interviewed Zsa Zsa Gabor. God was I big, and not far from “delivery day”. She didn’t try to ignore it like so many others did, all trying to be diplomatic - but SHEESH was I hard to miss! She looked at me, then my huge middle, and back up to me, and said “dahling! Are you going to name it after me?” And all I could think of was. “Well, no, but it does have a ‘z’ in it!” We’d already planned to name our soon-to-be daughter Elizabeth. As I recall, that did make her smile!

calimary

(87,121 posts)
42. I figured if it was good enough for a queen and a saint, it was good enough for my baby!
Tue Jul 22, 2025, 07:12 PM
Tuesday

And Elizabeth is the name of Jesus’s grandmother, if I remember correctly from Catholic school.

Upthevibe

(9,657 posts)
6. surfered..............
Tue Jul 22, 2025, 12:31 PM
Tuesday

Jesus effing Christ.........

The U.S. has a population of 340 million....................

DavidDvorkin

(20,264 posts)
9. To be fair, he didn't say there are two billion family farms in Iowa
Tue Jul 22, 2025, 12:39 PM
Tuesday

He said it would be important for two billioni family farms, and (therefore) especially important for Iowa.

dpibel

(3,621 posts)
11. Still doesn't quite math
Tue Jul 22, 2025, 12:58 PM
Tuesday

What you're saying is he didn't mean that every person in Iowa owns 670 farms. He meant every person in the United States owns 6.

Much fairer.

twodogsbarking

(14,514 posts)
12. If every person in China owned a farm it woudn't be 2 billion farms. Add the entire USA to that and it still would be
Tue Jul 22, 2025, 01:02 PM
Tuesday

short, like Trump's attention span.

evilhime

(357 posts)
14. Pigs
Tue Jul 22, 2025, 01:05 PM
Tuesday

in Iowa have always outnumbered the people but about 10-1 from what I have been told by Iowa friends.

jmbar2

(7,077 posts)
15. He gets certain numbers stuck in his head and recycles them out of place.
Tue Jul 22, 2025, 01:07 PM
Tuesday

The other day, he said that there were 11, 780 illegal immigrant murderers, the same number as the number of votes he was trying to get Raffensberger to find for him in Georgia 2020 election.

Yesterday, Trump Media bought $2 billion in bitcoin -- that number is stuck in his head today.

Moostache

(10,701 posts)
27. THAT statement - "Trump Media bought $2 billion in bitcoin..." is 99% of the problem with this country.
Tue Jul 22, 2025, 03:19 PM
Tuesday

First off is the overwhelming concern Trump - AT AGE 79 (3 years older than the now dead Ozzy Osbourne) - is obsessed with accumulating MORE wealth. I don't care if he lies and says its for his family (one, because he would be lying as usual and two, because I think inherited wealth beyond $10M to any individual is an inherently destabilizing thing for society overall and should be eliminated comepletely). I don't care why at all. I DO care about the idea that a man who will be VERY lucky to see the 2030s (actuarially speaking, he is already beyond his 'sell by' karma date) is still making 'deals' and doing things that will harm people in the name of increasing his 'wealth'.

Its depraved and disgusting and so many Americans are perfectly fine with this because it is sort of their collective delusion brought to the flesh. There are MILLIONS of Americans who will NEVER have $100,000 to their name, let alone $1,000,000 and certainly never $1,000,000,000. Yet they all seem to act and vote as if its just a matter of time for them to be doing exactly what Trump is doinig...getting more money as an objective measure of human life's value.

Our major problem is that the GOP has successfully convinced those from the 75th to the 20th income bracket that those in the bottom quintile are coming to takje THEIR stuff and impoverish THEIR families and make it so that THEIR wealth obsession doesn't come true. All the while, the top 1% enact laws and practices that do two things - 1) increase the % of wealth in that top 1% annually and compounding and 2) ensures that the ladder they climbed up to get there is either pulled up out of reach forever or more simply destroyed entirely.

People all seem to vote and talk and act like they are merely a few years away from their viral TikTok or social meida podcast taking off and landing them in the same income neighborhood as Trump or his opportunistic 'friends'.

I hope the last thing Donald Trump hears before he dies (and hope MORE that he dies sooner than anyone can even read this) is Nipsey Hussle's track "FDT" or Stephen Colbert's retort to him yesterday. Go fuck yourself indeed Two Scoops, but while you eventually DO die, do so knowing that when you are gone forever, far more people will be happy beyond words than sad even a little.

BaronChocula

(3,012 posts)
18. I'll trust Google's AI Overview over Prez Puffy on this one
Tue Jul 22, 2025, 01:12 PM
Tuesday
Several recent news articles discuss a claim by Donald Trump that "this bill saves over 2 billion family farms from the so-called estate tax or the death tax". One article states that Trump reiterated this claim at a speech in Iowa.


However, this claim appears to be significantly inflated. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) statistics, there are fewer than 2 million farms in the entire U.S.. In 2023, the number of farms was estimated at 1,894,950. The 2022 agricultural census reported 1.9 million farms, 95% of which were operated by families.

Wiz Imp

(6,154 posts)
22. According to the latest numbers, only 0.3% of all family farms were
Tue Jul 22, 2025, 02:05 PM
Tuesday

Subject to the estate tax. Using 1.9 million as the total number of family farms in the US, that means a grand total of just 5700 family farms in the entire US would ever be subject to the estate tax.

The latest number I could find for family farms in Iowa was 87,000. This mean only approximately 260 farms would be subject to estate taxes in Iowa.

Ms. Toad

(37,349 posts)
25. Aside from the impossible number of farms, the current number is $27,980,000 for a married couple.
Tue Jul 22, 2025, 02:51 PM
Tuesday

It's going to $30,000,000.

For reference, my parents Nebraska farm (and other assets acquired through non-farming endeavors) is valued at around $8 million (before tariffs changed the landscape, making farmland less valuable). It supported two families.

Before the tax bill, my parents could have passed 3.75 family farms capable of supporting two families each could have been passed tax-free. After, they could have passed 4 family farms capable of supporting two families each could be passed tax free.

The modest increase in estate tax won't make a bit of difference to family farmers.

eggplant

(4,095 posts)
37. I think that is supposed to be "2 billion (dollars worth of) family farms"
Tue Jul 22, 2025, 05:35 PM
Tuesday

or he could just be having a senior moment.

Picaro

(2,116 posts)
38. Or because there aren't 2 billion farms in the country
Tue Jul 22, 2025, 05:45 PM
Tuesday

He was saying shit like this during the campaign and people voted for him. Because they like that he speaks his mind without regard to reality.

I get it, but I don’t get it all at the same time.

What is currently going on often leaves me speechless.

MW67

(33 posts)
44. Don't forget while talking about farms that
Tue Jul 22, 2025, 08:02 PM
Tuesday

Rumpenstein knows lots about farms ,that's what he means by " I'm a stable genius" when caught by his grandfather in an inappropriate relationship with a calf he yelled " help grandpa the calf is trying to eat me alive! Stable genius.


Hassler

(4,459 posts)
47. Will Iowa Magats notice, or care? No. The good news is that as Phoni Joni
Tue Jul 22, 2025, 11:47 PM
Tuesday

Said, everyone dies, and hopefully Magat Iowans will tip over quickly, very quickly.

Attilatheblond

(6,736 posts)
48. In the ever accurate words of Representative Jasmine Crockett
Wed Jul 23, 2025, 12:06 AM
Yesterday

The math ain't mathin'

But whadda ya expect from the business man who managed to bankrupt casinos?

Attilatheblond

(6,736 posts)
49. Where'd that number come from? Did a search and msn.com has it a tad lower than 2 BILLION farmers in Iowa
Wed Jul 23, 2025, 12:14 AM
Yesterday

I found quote of him saying 2 MILLION farmers. Did he actually say 2 billion?

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/america-s-best-birthday-gift-trump-calls-new-legislation-one-big-beautiful-bill/ar-AA1HVZsc]

The legislation includes key tax reforms, including permanent Trump Tax Cuts and provisions for no tax on tips, overtime, or Social Security income. Trump also emphasised its importance to rural voters, particularly in farm-heavy states.

"Very importantly for Iowa, this bill rescues over 2 million family farms from the so-called estate tax, or the Death Tax," Trump said.
f

lonely bird

(2,425 posts)
56. It doesn't matter
Wed Jul 23, 2025, 08:09 AM
Yesterday

Nothing he says matters.

The only things that are important are as follows:

Doing everything possible to file lawsuits on every executive order
Filing lawsuits against ICE
Blocking ICE whenever and wherever possible
Filing lawsuits against any and all actions by and against the department of education, EPA
Filing lawsuits against any and all DEI destruction
Blocking as much as possible any actions by Republicans in the house and senate
Blocking as much as possible any actions by Republicans on the state level
Complete destruction of the Republican Party

Oh, and blasting on every media, especially any and all social media and podcasts, his lies about his relationship with Epstein

I want, no, I DEMAND that the Democratic Party on every level take this as seriously as it needs to be taken. The goal of those behind the thrown is not just the Republican lie of small government. The goal is the complete alteration of society in this country.

This. Is. War.

Storm the headquarters.

Brainfodder

(7,537 posts)
57. Come on, each corporate family MIGHT own 3M other ones?
Wed Jul 23, 2025, 08:55 AM
Yesterday


I still wanna hear more about this $1.99 gas and eggs now 300% off!



Talk about Rushmore 2.0 some more too, that one hits!
Latest Discussions»General Discussion»Trump's Dementia