70 Comments - wordslinger - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 12:37 pm: No. Exemptions for food and medicine make sense. Morthland is trying to claim some special exemption from the cost of doing business that by his logic could be extended to everything. Geez, farmers get a lot at the government trough, already. - Taken - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 12:38 pm: The fact “Morthland is a seventh generation farmer” and will directly benefit from his own legislative action is reason enough to be leery of his proposed giveaway! - Cincinnatus - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 12:40 pm: Believe it or not, even I am tired these types of breaks. Broaden the base/lower the rate. - foster brooks - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 12:41 pm: They already get their puchases tax free, walk into a farm king and they ask you if this is tax exempt - matty - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 12:41 pm: it is critical for small family farms to get this exemption in order to stay in business. I grew up on one in Wisconsin and plan to return to it in a few years, so I know how much this impacts a business that struggles to break even every year. A recent “adopt a legislator” tour I attended we heard specifically about this. Seriously, farmers are the hardest working people in this nation, but struggle just to make profitable. Taxing these goods is just one more nail in their family coffin… - 47th Ward - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 12:42 pm: No, I don’t agree with these sales tax exemptions, but I am sympathetic. I wish we had no need for a sales tax in the first place, and while a 7th generation farmer certainly knows how this sales tax hurts a farmer, a first generation merchant knows that a higher Illinois rate encourages customers to shop in neighboring states/counties. Amazon made this concept central to its business model. Also, given strong commodities prices and rising land values, it’s hard to get all worked up about the plight of farmers these days. Nobody likes the disparity in sales taxes, and some uniformity would be good, but this type of self-serving exemption is not good public policy. - Ryan from Carrollton - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 12:42 pm: These sort of exemptions already exist for farmers (diesel fuel for example). Hopefully this will add a little more sense to the current exemption structure. From personal experience it seems like a lot of times something like electric fence wire will be tax exempt but the fence posts and/or insulators to put them up with not (just using those as an example, not sure if they are or not). - anon - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 12:46 pm: I am all for it, if it creates much needed jobs. I would, however, like to see a means test. - Cheryl44 - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 12:48 pm: Believe it or not, I’m agreeing with Cincinnatus. Well, the broaden the base part anyway. Perhaps lower the rate, in time. - x ace - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 12:50 pm: Farm Land prices way up. Maybe , doubled since 2004. Thus, doesn’t appear to be an industry needing tax exemptions ( or subsidies , either ) So disagree. - Just a citizen - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 12:50 pm: Farmers are making more money than they ever have and are still at the public trough for more and more of what I consider handouts. Hasn’t anyone heard? The State is broke. Enough already. - Are Ya Kiddin' Me? - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 12:53 pm: 7th Generation farmer proposes this? Isn’t this a huge conflict? Didn’t Brady get blasted for just voting on something that he might benefit from? - Ryan from Carrollton - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 12:54 pm: 47th, a lot of time and money goes into producing a crop on a farm. A 50 pound bag of seed corn is easily $150, and that’s not GMO. In addition energy rates are rising with increases the cost of production and operating farm equipment. When the crop is harvested, a lot of times it requires being dried down in the bin, which adds more cost through either propane or electricity to run the fan. Additionally, farmers who raise livestock are having a hard time because of the rising cost of feed prices. That appears to be what these exemptions are aimed at. Bailing wire and twine are pretty self explanatory, but the plastic bags probably require some explanation. Many times farmers with livestock in late July or August will chop corn for sileage instead of leaving it for fall harvest. The sileage is mostly a combination of chopped up corn stalk, cob, and kernel. When taken from the field the sileage is then hauled to either a pit for storage and covered with plastic to shelter it from the elements, or here the past few years people have been storing them in giant plastic bags that are similar to what people put leaves in in the fall… only much bigger. The livestock raising community has been hit hard and will probably continue to be due to the droughts in the southwest and the bad planting season in the midwest (wet early then very hot and dry all summer plus storm damage). Many ranchers in Texas and Oklahoma are selling off their entire herds because they cannot afford to feed them. This is problematic because generally farmers that raise livestock will only sell off calves from the previous years spring and then wean that years calves in the fat lot to be fattened and slaughtered. This generally takes a year and a half to two years. Now not only are the ranchers selling off their fat cattle which they intended to sell, but also their breeding stock. THis combination will create a shortage of meat and dairy products in the United States that will be evident by increasing prices in the stores. - Ahoy - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 12:54 pm: No, didn’t we try this with the sales tax on gas and found out that revenue actually went down because people really don’t cross the river that often? Also, we need to be lowering the sales tax and extending it to more products and services, not providing more exemptions. If we do this, the sales tax will be lower for all, not a select few. - foster brooks - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 12:54 pm: The hammer fell at an iowa auction for farm land at$ 12000 an acre, if you have 100 acres your an instant millionaire - mokenavince - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 12:55 pm: Enough of farm subsides, ethanol,low cost loans up name it farmers get it. They are just rural welfare queens. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 12:55 pm: ===Didn’t Brady get blasted for just voting on something that he might benefit from? === Yes, he voted three times on a bill that specifically helped his own personal company. This bill is different, however. It would help farmers in general, so it’s not a conflict to anyone but a shallow thinker. - Ryan from Carrollton - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 12:57 pm: One thing that I neglected to include was the ever increasing price of equipment. A new combine will easily cost upwards of $300,000 while newer tractors (say made in the past 10 years), depending on horsepower, whether or not they are four-wheel drive, front-wheel assist, or non of the above will cost around $100,000 - lincoln's beard - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 12:58 pm: Isn’t it a bit irresponsible to propose tax exemptions without suggesting offsetting tax increases or spending cuts? - Pelon - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 1:02 pm: Ryan, Every businessperson faces difficulties with costs and sales. Why should farmers be singled out for government support? - Demoralized - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 1:03 pm: No. Stop all of the exemptions. Pick a tax rate, get rid of all of the deductions and exemptions, and make everyone pay at that rate. If you are a farmer and can’t afford to run the business, then don’t. Sell it to somebody who can. - Irish - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 1:13 pm: I voted against it for this reason. “Every time a farmer crosses the river to buy agricultural products, the state of Illinois loses employment potential and revenue opportunities on all of the purchases made that currently do not qualify for the sales tax exemption,” This assumes all farmers have the ability to go across the river/stateline and gain from lower taxes in neighboring states. For most any savings would be negated by the cost of fuel for the trip. So you are talking about a limited number of folks who would benefit. Also what is the difference between these products and all of the other things that people are crossing the state lines to purchase cheaper. If there is a fix to keep folks from traveling out of state for cheaper purchases then let’s find the fix for all of them not for a select few. - Skeeter - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 1:15 pm: Do neighboring states provide exemptions for this stuff? Is there really an incentive to go to Iowa or Missouri for the stuff? - Joeverdeal - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 1:15 pm: Demoralized’s thoughts make sense. Actually, a uniform national sales tax (with elimination or substantial reduction in the current income tax) would be a blessing for the entire country and could be designed to provide revenue for all units of government, as well. If all states were required to operate under a VAT of some sort, then “crossing the river” to make purchases would be eliminated as a factor in commerce. - Bigtwich - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 1:16 pm: Non licensed farm equipment is not subject to sales tax. - Rural IL resident - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 1:21 pm: Farmers continue to get the federal and state subsidies even though the farm prices/profits are at an all time high! No to yet another tax dodge! - Skeeter - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 1:21 pm: I run a small family law firm and if Illinois does not make pens, legal pads, file folders, and Armani suits tax free, I’m moving my practice to Indiana! In addition, I would like to be paid not to work (my personal injury files need to lie fallow for a few years for the good of surrounding firms). Can Rep. Morthland help me out on any of those? - The Southern - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 1:25 pm: Living down here in corn country gives me anecdotal wisdom of farming. I know many farmers(a lot of small family operations) and know none of them that ever claim a profit from annual operations. Most of these types of purchases are going be itemized as expenses and then deducted against gross income. Many multi-generation businesses have legitimate supplies needs for their operations, and they pay tax on the purchase of those supplies. Lord help me, but wordslinger and I agree on something! I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later. - Ryan from Carrollton - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 1:25 pm: Pelon, Yes, every business is susceptible to difficulties, but with agriculture there is so much that is out of the control of the farmers. In trucking, your two big costs are going to be fuel and labor (well, licenses too under Blago), but those costs can be passed on to the consumer. The same is true in the technology sector, manufacturing, etc. With the agriculture sector, the seller, i.e. farmers, have little to no control over the price of their goods at market. When a farmer sells his livestock at the local sale barn or slaughter house, he/she may get $.50 per pound (as was the case with pork a few years ago) or he/she could get $1.10 per pound. Individuals may say that this is true of any market, which would be correct, but the agriculture market fluctuates greatly in a short amount of time and requires a great length of time for the farmer to bring the product to market. In the case of crops, one bad storm, a flash flood, extreme weather (hello this year), disease, pests, etc., can totally devestate a crop’s output for that year. Correct me if I am wrong, but I know of no industry that is as susceptible to market forces (well, maybe commercial fishing). - Ghost - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 1:27 pm: I disagree The exemptions are messing up our tax system. Everytime we pass an exemption we lose money and end up raising a tax rate elsewhere to compensate. This moves in the wrong direction. We need to look at removing all exemptions, and then maybe we could lower the overal rate. Its time to stop creating favored or privileged groups who do not pay their fair share of a tax. This is why our copr tax rate is so wonky. We have some folks who pay nothing so we keep raising the rate to overcome their exemptiosn, and then we bonk other groups who do not have the exemptions. Same rate for everyone, remove the exemptions…and we could probably lower the rates as well. BTW those farmers buying across the border still have to pay Ill use tax. If they are not paying the use tax (sales tax) then weneed to enforcenot legalize their conduct in violation of the law. Sales tax for everyone, or for no one. Stop forcing the working middle class to pay for everthing so the special interests can be exempted. - QRBNST - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 1:28 pm: The “small family farmer” argument is a red herring. This bills’ exemptions are very specific and since the majority of agricultural production in Illinois is done by corporate agribusiness, they will primarily benefit large companies like ADM Worldwide (aka Archer Daniels Midland). And no Rich, just because the bills are not specific to Morthland’s farm, does not make them any less of a personal conflict. He lives in the Quad Cities and he cited having to cross the river to buy supplies…sounds pretty personal to me. - Bitterman - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 1:31 pm: No. There are already plenty of tax exemptions for farmers. If they cross state lines to make a purchase then they should pay Illinois state use tax. Most of the farmers who get state and federal subsidies are grain farmers in sizable operations. Small scale veggie and fruit growers get squat. The current tax exemptions, like the one Morthland proposes, is government once again picking winners and losers in the market place. - Six Degrees of Separation - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 1:32 pm: Why is it that the policies that supposedly help save “the family farm” most often wind up in the pocketbooks of the corporate farmers? No one can make a decent living (unsubsidized by a side job) on less than 2 sections of land unless you’re a specialty farmer these days, although $6/bushel corn is the rising tide that lifts all boats these days. I suspect this little tax break will not be a good trade for the state, all things considered. I agree, $10k/acre farmland is making millionaires out of many 7th generation farm kids who decide to sell. It is also a barrier of entry to many who weren’t born into the biz. - QRBNST - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 1:32 pm: Also, while many people may hold a romantic nostalgia for owning & operating a family farm, nostalgia for an anachronistic lifestyle does not justify taxpayer subsidization of businesses that are not economically competitive or self-sustatining. If you can’t operate a business (of any kind) without a handout from taxpayers, then you should find another way to earn a living. - Anonymous - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 1:33 pm: The idea that property values have gone up is reason not to vote for something is a joke. Many farms are having to be sold for that very reason. Family farms can’t afford the death taxes. That is the only time rising land prices come into play for most farmers. In addition property taxes rise with every farm sold. Family farms are in the way out because of this along with small towns that only have the farm community to support them. Mega farms are where we are headed. - QRBNST - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 1:33 pm: *self-sustaining - QRBNST - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 1:35 pm: Anonymous 1:33 pm said: “Mega farms are where we are headed.” Actually, “mega farms” are where we are AT. Welcome to the 21st century. “Here’s your sign.” - Slick Willy - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 1:44 pm: ===They are just rural welfare queens.=== Amen to that! When the crops grow tall and the prices are high - “We sure work hard for our money”. When the crops die and the prices are low - “We are all in this together”. Drives me freakin’ crazy listening to farmers whine. ===It is critical for small family farms to get this exemption in order to stay in business.=== Please! Small family farm? Where? I live in the middle of farm country and anyone farming less than 1,000 acres is a rarity and likely doing it as a speculator. Most farmers I know have two or three combines, numerous grain trucks and three or four employees. “Family farm” is a pastoral term that is no longer relevant in central Illinois. - Mary - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 1:45 pm: Man o’ man. This guy is a piece of work. HE and his farmer friends are about the ONLY people in IL doing well, and he wants to get special tax breaks? Give me a break, Rich. Ugh…this guy is going to be representing me soon. Makes me ill. And I am a conservative! I’ll vote for his opponent. This guy is a tax dollar piggy and we can’t afford him. - PaGo - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 1:48 pm: ===It would help farmers in general=== Do they really need it? - Pot calling kettle - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 1:49 pm: I’ll echo Cincy: “Broaden the base/lower the rate.” This is the way to go. Everyone wants their own, personal exemption. Morthland’s argument could be used to lower every single sales tax. - Anonymous - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 1:51 pm: anon. @1:33 Show me the the cite for a farm or business in Illinois that has been sold to pay the “death” tax. - Six Degrees of Separation - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 1:59 pm: The IRS’ 1033 exchange policy makes it unneccessary for a capital gains tax to be paid on sold farmland. It is one of the primary factors in why farmland in places like Iroquois, Logan, and other counties is going at prices twice its intrinsic agricultural business value. - Six Degrees of Separation - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 2:00 pm: *1031 - anon sequitor - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 2:01 pm: I grew up in farm country and I know well how farm finances work. I voted No because this legislation, although well-meaning, is wrong-headed. Simply put, there are already many different tax exemptions and benefits for farmers, such as a special classification for property taxes, that provide substantial financial benefits if they know how to take advantage of them. Another new tax break is not going to make or break a farm. What will, however, is a good farm accountant. A well-managed and run farm makes a very good living for a family, even if it is just the nostalgia and quality of life of a hobby farm. Farmers have been “losing money” for generations, yet the fields still get planted and harvested. Another farmer is always there to take their place. Those are market forces at work too. Furthermore, any farmer who failed to sell their corn crop during last couple months when prices were high was asleep at the switch, Taxpayers should not be subsidizing farmers who don’t, won’t, or can’t do their homework. I share the concern about mega-farms, but that has more to do with credit opportunities for young farmers getting started than new tax breaks. - Colossus - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 2:13 pm: Anon 1:33PM: I would love to see your analysis of how many family farms in Illinois are subject to estate taxes. A death tax would be paid by everyone on their death. This tax is only on your property in excess of $5M, commonly called an “estate”, hence “estate tax” is the proper terminology. in 2011, only 8,600 estates are estimated to be hit by this tax*. Branded slogans don’t make for good policy. * http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/key-elements/estate/how-many.cfm - Lulabell - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 2:25 pm: My husband is from a farm family and those family farms are the ones that struggle to just break even many years. I agree with the breaks if it helps keep them in business. I have seen too many farms go under only to be snatched up the banks who are huge farming kingpins in downstate. - Thoughts... - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 2:27 pm: I’m gonna have to disagree with Rich on the conflict angle. Show me how much Morthland Farms would save under the break before you say it’s shallow. If it enefits them to the tune of $10k a year, which it could, that’s significant enough to be a conflict in my book. I’ll echo what Cinci and others agree on - broaden the base/lower the rate. A farm is a business, not a benevolent sacrifice made for the greater good. There’s no reason it should be exempted from the cost of doing business more than any other business. And while we’re at it, they should lose the equipment exemption as well. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 2:44 pm: People, this is a citizens legislature. It ain’t Congress which bars outside income. Take a breath and stick to the question. - Ryan from Carrollton - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 3:06 pm: Slick Willy, There are a lot of family farms. In my personal observations the small family farms of 800 to a thousand acres or less are the ones that typically survive while the ones that grow too large typically fail. Also, depending on where you live 1000 acres may or may not be a large amount of land. In Illinois, I would say that it is. However, when you get into Texas and Oklahoma a ranch is not considered a ranch unless there is about 1000 acres on it. On that 1000 acres though, there may only be 50 cattle because the land is so poor for grazing compared to places like Illinois. Additionally, just because land prices are high does not mean that the person that owns the land has a large degree of cash on hand. Farmers and ranchers who actually own the property that they farm/ranch are actually wealthy, but their wealth is in property and not in more liquid assets such as cash, stocks, bonds, etc. - QRBNST - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 3:15 pm: Actually, Congress doesn’t bar all outside income, only certain kinds. - Usual Illinois Liberal - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 3:28 pm: Well if someone gets a break, someone else has to make up the difference. So who is willing to have their taxes raised so the farmers can have theirs lowered? - sal-says - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 3:31 pm: Local downstate rag prints story about the county’s ‘top ten’ farm subsidies. 4 of the 10 have same last names; apparently 2 couples (same address, phone, etc.) EACH PERSON got around $170K in subsidies (read your and my tax dollars). Emailed reporter of story what gives? He says ‘that’s common’ to split farms up to get more subsidies. ENOUGH! - Plutocrat03 - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 4:02 pm: If we are all special, and have a good backstory, who is left to pay the taxes? - Alexander cut the knot. - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 4:03 pm: This would be an exemption on all business inputs if expanded beyond farming. If that is what we want, then do a value added tax and get rid of the sales tax. Otherwise, its just another special interest tax break. - Wensicia - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 4:06 pm: No, exemptions for businesses should never be allowed, farming is a business like any other. - Capital View - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 4:25 pm: I’m with Anon Sequitor - there are already plenty of tax credits and state Dept. of Ag benefits for Illinois farmers. I would go the opposite way — if Illinois farmers buy their equipment across the state lines, they should be mandated to pay the amount of their sales tax bsck to Illinois, even if already paid it to Iowa or Wisconsin or Indiana, to help pay for the costs of their Illinois benefits and programs available to Illinois farmers. - dupage dan - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 4:28 pm: This kind of stuff being put into law is why the tax code is so darned complex. Even CPAs have a hard time figuring it out. Simplifying the tax code should be a top priority. Remove the exemptions and subsidies. I know that to wipe the slate clean will subsequently start the process all over again but so be it. - Wensicia - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 4:30 pm: “Every time a farmer crosses the river to buy agricultural products, the state of Illinois loses employment potential and revenue opportunities on all of the purchases made that currently do not qualify for the sales tax exemption,” Well, you could say the same for the books I buy from Amazon. Should bookstores in this state have been allowed an exemption on the books they sell, rather than lose employment potential and revenue opportunities? - Gregor - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 4:40 pm: You want to help Illinois farmers? Get a law passed approving non-drug hemp production. And to shut up the ISP and the “OMG, it’s Mary-Jane!” crowd, build a fee into the permission to grow that pays into a fund to pay for adequate supervision of these crops by an outside organization, and we’re good to go. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 4:45 pm: People, please, stick to the question. - Robert0117 - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 4:57 pm: Manufacturing has always been able to exempt the materials required to produce their product. Why should the farmers be any different. - Anonymous - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 5:57 pm: Absolutely not! This is yet another classic example of farmer-legislators promoting self-interest legislation. They already pay no sales tax on large equipment, and that isn’t fair to other businesses. They also get tax-funded subsidies on their crops. They want to shift education funding from land taxes to income taxes, since property taxes are the most substantial taxes they pay. They want to pay less in land taxes, get subsidies, and now not even pay sales tax on their supplies. Shame on them! Farmers should NOT be allowed to serve on the Agriculture Committee. - 1776 - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 6:02 pm: There is a sales tax exemption for the purchase of manufacturing equipment put in service in Illinois. They do not get an exemption for materials required to produce the product. - Rural IL resident - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 7:10 pm: Farmers are the WELFARE QUEENS of our time! No more tax exemptions. Fact is let’s roll some of them back, starting with the gas tax exemption. Then equipment.The list goes on and on! - Gregor - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 7:16 pm: I’m getting paid a subsidy not to grow virtual wheat in farmville.:-) Silly? Just as silly as making such a hyper-specific tax break for farmers. Somebody has a gate and post business that’s not doing well, and needs a stimulus, apparently. - Wilson Pickett - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 7:52 pm: This will sound similar to Warren Buffet saying that he needs to be taxed more than he currently is but: I disagree with it. I own farmland and I am among those who take farm deficiency payments (aka. welfare payments for those who don’t need it courtesy of the federal taxpayers). Agriculture is one of the few sectors of the nation’s economy where it’s members have been relatively immune to the current recession. Farming has been fairly lucrative for many years. Crop deficiency payments and other such federal government (welfare) payments were probably a good idea at their original inception but they should have been phased out or eliminated about 25 years ago. But, the farm lobby is still a very powerful force in Washington and Springfield so few if any politicians will dare to try to turn off the spigot on the “free beer” keg. The wrath of the farm lobby would fall on them like a heavy iron anvil if they tried. Whether it be federal deficiency payments or legislation to eliminate sales tax for farmers by Illinois politicians seeking to curry their political bases support in Illinois, it comes about for the same reason. It is politics and that is the real reason that this sales tax legislation was filed. Why shouldn’t brick masons get special tax treatment or how about electricians or taxi cab drivers? Morthland knows how to pander to his base and that is what actually motivated this legislation. He knows who butters his bread. - Turning Dirt - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 7:57 pm: Don’t cuss a farmer with your mouth full!!!! I make my living from farming. Back to the original bill, I think it really just clears up some issues with the current law. I do not beleive there is a tax on “temparary fence” parts but there is on permenat fence. The hardest part of reading everyones responses isn’t the bashing on farmers but the misconceptions about farming everybody has written about in their comments. Yes commodity prices were at an all time high this fall, but so are seed, fertilizer and fuel prices. Any time somebody would like to hear the real side of the story, I would love to sit down over a few cold ones to answer all your questions. - hisgirlfriday - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 9:40 pm: I said no. I would like to give farmers a break but our state just can’t afford that and giving all these tax breaks necessary to keep things like CME in the state and balance the budget. The farmers, sorry for them, can’t go anywhere else. And even if they go out of state to buy stuff for farming to avoid those sales taxes, we’ll still get their sales tax on the gas they pay to get there. It’s not fair and it’s not right. But so many things are that way in politics. - Rural IL Resident - Tuesday, Oct 4, 11 @ 11:33 pm: The farmer files for state gas tax refund based on his “estimate” of off road consumption. I’ve heard them brag how they “estimate” their consumption. I wonder if anyone has ever been caught inflating their “estimate”? I’ve never heard of it happening. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.