Trump's Dementia

[Ms. Toad]

58. So here's another twist.

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.