Kip Tom, the Leesburg Indiana farmer who will stand today with President Trump complaining about the federal estate tax, cashed over $3.3 million in farm subsidy checks, including $2.6 million between 2004 and 2014, the most recent data available.
Research was conducted by Chuck Collins, a senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies, using the Environmental Working Group Farm Subsidy Database.
Kip Tom and Tom Farms is one of the biggest corn and soybean producers in Indiana and the ninth largest farm subsidy recipient in Indiana.
Arriving at a total for Tom Farms subsidies required examining subsidies to three different ownership entities, as the farm went from individual ownership to an LLC in roughly 1995 and then formed Tom Farms Partners in 2004.
Between 2004 and 2014, Tom Farms Partners received $2,612,561 in subsidies, mostly commodity subsidies. Between 1996 and 2006, Tom Farms LLC cashed $667,732 in farm subsidy checks. In 1995, Kip Tom took in $42,826, but then refunded $17,494 for a net of $25,332. Between 1995 and 2014, this equals over $3,305,625 in government subsidies,
Over 41 of Indiana farmers do not receive any subsidies, according to the USDA.
Republicans have been using farmers and ranchers for decades to justify estate tax repeal. See history of using farmers as the face of repeal, going back to 2000.
SOURCE MATERIAL:
All three Tom Farms entities combined received $3.3 million in subsidies, which would place them number 9 on this list of biggest subsidy recipients. https://farm.ewg.org/top_recips.php?fips=18000&progcode=totalfarm®ionname=Indiana
For data on subsidies to Tom Farm Partners, 2004-2014, see Environmental Working Group, Farm Subsidy Database, https://farm.ewg.org/persondetail.php?custnumber=A12612280
Information about 1996-2005, Tom Farms LLC Direct subsidies https://farm.ewg.org/persondetail.php?custnumber=A09725971
Direct 1995 farm subsidy to Kip Tom, see: https://farm.ewg.org/persondetail.php?custnumber=A02818052