— Lancaster Farming. Saturday. March 15,1969
4
From Where We Stand ...
Tax-Loss Farming
The Internal Revenue Service figures
:hat 680,000 non-farmers (industrial firms
as well as individuals) took over a billion
dollars in tax losses in a recent year as “in
come tax farmers.” The losses to the Trea
sury are exceedingly heavy simply because
the more money the firm or individual
makes the more money he contrives to
‘lose’ on his farm.
There are several ways this is done, but
Carl Rowan writing in the Chicago Daily
News gave a procedure that runs like this:
“A movie star who falls into the 70 per-cent
income tax bracket invests $200,000 of ‘cur
rent expense’ money in the building of a
breeding herd. He deducts the $200,000 as a
pure loss, thus reducing the taxes on his
non-farm income by $140,000. Later he sells
the herd for just what he put into it: $200,-
000. He pays taxes on this, but only at the
25-percent capital gams rate: $50,000. Our
movie star thus has a net savings of $90,000
in what appears on paper to be a ‘break
even’ farming transaction. The shrewd
operators save even more by not really
putting their own money into the trans
action. They borrow that and deduct the
interest on it.”
Sen. Lee Metcalf (D-Mont.) has intro
duced a bill to limit the amount of farm
losses that can be charged off against other
income by “hobby farmers”. This bill is
designed to protect the legitimate farmer,
including one who earns several thousand
dollars a year off the farm. Under the bill, a
taxpayer could use farming losses to off
set up to $15,000 in non-farm income. The
deduction would be cut, dollar for dollar, as
non-farm income rises above $15,000. Thus,
a stock broker with $30,000 in non-farm in
come would not be able to deduct any
‘farming losses’ except for deductions that
are allowable to any taxpayer, such as in
terest, local taxes, or casualty losses.
With national tax payers in a huff over
a recent announcement that a few wealthy
persons manage to ‘legally’ get away with
not paying any taxes, we believe support
of this bill will be quite easy to get.
And since “tax farmers” are interested
only in a “loss”, they will do many things
that undercut the normal farmer and his
markets. Metcalf argues that if we save in
dependent and family farmers by closing
the holes in our tax laws to eliminate this
gross mis-use we also save better com
munities, with more churches, better
schools, and more business opportunities.
We support Metcalf in this with only the
reservation that the laws that are made and
all their fine-print implications be sure not
to also hamper the real farmer also. At
least that’s the v ay it looks from where we
stand.
Farm News Ibis Week
Lampeter-Strasburg FFA Honors
Sixteen Former Am. Farmers Page 1
Agriculture Kept Economy
From Busting, Empie Says Page 1
Dairy Day Program Airs
Health & Outlook Items Page 1
Baby Beef & Lamb Club Sell
Tobacco Project; Give To Fund Page 1
LANCASTER FARMING
Lancaster County’s Own Farm Weekly
P. O. Box 266 - Lititz, Pa. 17543
Office: 22 E. Main St., Lititz, Pa. 17543
Phone; Lancaster 394-3047 or Lititz 626-2191
Everett R. Newswanger, Editor
Robert G. Campbell, Advertising Director
Subscription price: $2 per year in Lancaster
County; $3 elsewhere
Established November 4,1955
Published every Saturday by Lancaster
Farming, Lititz, Pa.
Second Class Postage paid at Lititz, Pa.
17543
Member of Newspaper Farm Editors Assn.
A Better View
Once a man walked up a hill and look
ed down upon his village. He could see the
houses and paths spread out before him.
Some time later, a number of millenni
ums later, a man sat in a shaky birdlike af
fair and flew over his town. He could see
much better than his early ancestor could
see from a hill, for now he was directly
above the town and could look straight
down. He could see in greater perspective,
for he could see the surrounding hills and
valleys in relation to the town.
Still later, a man went up into the sky,
this time in a jet, and in addition to seeing
his own city, he could look out and see many
cities, some as far as fifty miles away.
Then one day a man traveled up out
rather in a space craft and could see
whole continents. He traveled around the
globe and reported to the earthbound crea
tures that Africa was coming up on the
right, and Europe on the left. Thirty minu
tes later he would say, “I see Australia way
down under.” And still later, “Now the west
coast of the United States is peeping over
the horizon.”
But man wanted a still wider view. So
one day he set off again, and this time
really went out way out. When he looked
in upon his earth, he saw not towns and
cities, not even continents. This time he saw
a world and he could see the parts in rela
tion to the whole.
The new perspective we now have of
our globe should help us if we are ready
to have our ideas about division, and clan,
and wealth exploded. Perhaps now we will
leave our provincialisms behind and see in
one view that the world is not only suburbia,
and school buildings, and freeways, but
eroded hillsides, rocky trails, and leaking
roofs; that the world is not full of doctors,
and teachers, and agriculturists, but that
disease, and ignorance, and hunger abound.
If we see in the right perspective we’ll
take up our tasks in a spirit that will help
God’s world become more like He wants it
to be Nathan B. Hege in Youth Messen
ger.
Across The Fence Row
“Mr. Laurence M. Gould, President
Emeritus of Carleton College, said: ‘I do not
believe the greatest threat to our future is
from bombs or guided missiles, I don’t
think our civilization will die that way. I
think it will die when we no longer care.
Nineteen of 21 civilizations have died from
within and not by conquest from without.
There were no bands playing and flags wav
ing when these civilizations decayed. It
happened slowly, in the quiet and the dark
when no one was aware.’ ” Denver, Colo ,
Herald-Dispatch.
Any child who knows the value of a
penny is better at decimal fractions than
most adults.
The man who agrees with everything
you say may he to others, too.
When a person can see both sides of a
question, it doesn’t involve him, his reli
gion, or his pocketbook.
Local Weather Forecast
(From the U. S. Weather Bureau at the
Harrisburg State Airport)
The five-day forecast for the period
Saturday through next Wednesday calls for
temperatures to average below normal with
daytime highs in the mid 30’s to middle
40’s and overnight lows in the upper teens
to upper 20’s. Not much day to day change.
Normal high-low for the period is 50-31.
Precipitation may total less than one
fourth inch water equivalent falling as snow
flurries over the. north portions during the
weekend.
jtacVgraundScnptura'Mork II through 12.
Davahanal Raatfing* Isaioh 11)9
_ , „ , , -where YOU come first!” With.
The date is Sunday, March this, the stranger skims the fair
116, 1969. The time is 11:05 a.m. over the congregation and you
I The place is the sanctuary of watc h in fascination as it sails-
I your church. precariously near a- prominent)
' The service has just begun and churchwom an’s skyscraper hat;
I the people are sitting down, hav- As you glance back at the Strang*
tag just finished the first hymn. ef) you notice for the first time-
Suddenly, you his face—it isn’t so much anger
are aware that a you see there, as sorrow!
tall man is walk- There is a constant flow of
tag briskly up objects in his hands. There see
the aisle. tea-towels (a project of the "WilF
"An usher?” ing Workers’ Class”),theZlPPEE
you wonder, —instant Fire Extinguisher for
tnough it oc- Home and Auto (sold by the
curs to you that m en’s Group), the radiant
you have never christ’s-head wall plaque ("It
seen this manbe- g| ows in the dark as you grow
fore. As he in faith!”), "Lord’s Prayer bail
comes to the head of the aisle, point pens—there seems to be no
he turns and faces the congrega- enc j to it all.
tion. "A pitch for the Building But there is. The stranger stop*
Fund,” you decide, noticing some speaking, lifts his eyes upward*
papers in his hand. - an d says: «j s it not written, ‘My
Marshmallow crosses house sball b ® Ued * ho u, s *
.. ~ , , . , prayer for all the nations’? BKit
At first he doesnt say any- y ou have made it a den of"
thing, although not from any ob- robbers.”
vious embarassment; he seems to Ul . „. ’
be looking briefly at each person When jesus £«s loose
sifting before him in the pews. jf you can envision that little
The silence grows uncomfortable scene yo ur own church, then!
until at last he holds up a copy per haps you can appreciate what'
of the church worship bulletin jt was that infuriated the temple'
and says: The youth are taking leaders when Jesus strode intoHhe
orders for Easter candy. Choc- temple courtyard and overturned
date bunnies, marshmallow the money-changers’ tables and
crosses, and fluff eggs are attrac- drove the legitimate merchant*!
box * d and sell for only f rom their booths. No wonder
$3.98 per box. The proceeds of they demanded: "By what author
the sale will be used to buy a ity are you doing these things,
n ® w , pulpit Bible for the or who gave you this authority;
c V . to do them?” (Mark 11;28 RSV)}
Suddenly, the man is seen to i stt >t that the way we are-still l
have a box)—a candy box!—and likely to react today when Jesus,
with a sweepofhis arm he throws ge ts loose- in our lives, ourf
it upon the-floor. Chocolate bun- churches, and our world? I*
nies, marshmallow crosses, and ... - u ,
fluff Ptrae In email !,«•>» ,n •“"">« »pyn*hl«J ky lh* Division |
ZiUIZ cggiS scatter in small neaps Christian fifucatian, National Cauncif at |ftw '
on the wine-colored carpeting, church** chnst in th* us. a. *«Uas»di>v-
There is not a sound around you. c»mmvmty riw Servi»)
[People are staring in wide-eyed i
disbelief!
Once again the man resumes Attend The Church Of
reading from the parish notices: Y «...
"Ladies, you have only five more Tour Choice aundO|f
days to join the new Women’s
For Full Market Reports
Read LANCASTER FARMING
To Practice Farm And
Home Safety
The spring work season is ap
proaching for all farmers and
gardeners All types of machin
ery will be put into action when
warmer weather arrives. Most
of these present accident ha
zards if not properly handled
Farm operators and parents are
urged to outline definite rules
about the use of machinery and
the proper speed and manner
in which the machines are to be
operated Safety measures
should be established before a
serious accident not after
wards.
To Prune Trees
All types of fruit and shade
trees should be pi lined during
the month of March, if they
were not pruned earlier in the
winter When the cuts are made
while the tree is in the dormant
stage, there will be less shock
Circle "Hat Club.” Member* will 1
begin payment next Sunday for
hats to dc delivered by Good
Friday. This project will help the
ladles buy a new fifty-cup coffee
maker for the kitchen. Pick up
your application Inthc devotional
literature rack ..." With these
last words, the stranger throw*
a pack of small application card*
just above the heads of those
sitting in the first four or flv«j
pews. *'• ■
"A house of prayer"
Now there is a small cardl,
board fan in his hand. Turnings
it before him, he reads: "This faai
is provided for your comfort By
the Lovely Lane Funeral Home
NOW IS
THE TIME...
By Max Smith
Lancaster County Agent
and loss of sap from the expos
ed aiea. Evergreen trees should
not be trimmed at this time
with the exception of- spruce
trees that may be shaped. Cuts
over one inch in diameter
should be treated with tree
paint to prevent fungus infec
tion or rotting.
To Attend Livestock Day,
On. Tuesday” March 25* ttie
Pefln State University campus
will be the scene of the first
Pennsylvania Livestock Field
Day. This event will be for all
beef, sheep, and swine produc
ers. The session convenes M
10:00 A M. with a joint program
including national speakers c( n
timely subjects. ..After lunch,
each species of livestock pro
ducers will hold separate meet
ings and tours. All local live
stock producers are urged' to
consider the benefits from'this
event. j