Lancaster Farming. Saturday, August 25, 1973 "SSStt. - abundant quality food, P pounds of f«Viips dL S* **. person and enj y Americans, me f ro £ i rJ-vsw — - -Sfw* «* if^pS^STwcaa isKSSSsfISS American ag* * our people farm art STand'still have starvation i '?p V narrow the balance » dollar. 35 - SUSS f «---s coSuSon to A ”®“tely”rewaSd’ T>> e have seldom been adequate V w t han 55 * a small percentage SfflCddovmtothem»on»etod s h This booklet shows J am worid tending upward here sm the worlds and why our food u schmnz best value. Plentiful, low cost food makes America the envy of the world The astonishing productivity of the American farmer has made the United States the envy of the world. No other country can match us in the variety, quantity and quality of our food. It takes only 15.7 percent of our disposable income to pay our food bill, leaving the remainder for the other things that have become so important to our way of life. We can purchase more food with an hour of labor than any other people on earth.. .and that is the true measure of outstanding performance. The American farmer has made a tremendous contribution to the economy of our country. His productivity has helped keep the price of food far below the trend in wages and other things we buy, A.O. Smith Harvestore Products, Inc. wel comes the opportunity to show that food is fairly priced and that farmers’ hard work and willingness to invest and take risks have provided a higher standard of living for everyone. Farmers pay their full share of county, state and federal taxes Sponsored by How Farm The cash register in the supermarket is a vigilant tax collector. In many states it levies a direct sales tax on food that adds from 3 to 6% to the total on the grocery bill. It is estimated that other taxes collected along the food processing and marketing chain add 4 cents to the food dollar. Taxes make up a big part of the farmer’s cost of growing your food. Farm real estate taxes add up to $2.7 billion per year. In 1971 alone these taxes jumped 6.4%. Property tax payments are keeping rural America’s schools and other institutions alive. Farmers pay $2.5 billion in federal and state income taxes money that serves sill of the people, urban and rural. Farmers also pay sales taxes totaling more than $350 million and personal property tax of $450 million. The food marketing industry has been paying $2.2 billion a year in corporate income taxes. This is about 2.8% of the food marketing bill. Property taxes, social security, unemploy ment compensation, state taxes and license fees require an additional $3 billion per year. Taxes are a big and growing item in every family’s grocery bill. If food had gone up as muck as wages, round steak would If food "prices had kept pace with average wages you would see some tremendous in creases. For example, the round steak selling at $1.68 recently, would cost $2.67 per pound. Eggs would be $1.61 per dozen instead of 69 cents and a loaf of bread would cost 38 cents instead of 25 cents. Other comparisons are shown in the chart. Average hourly rates in industry have in creased from $1.52 per hour in 1952 to $3.65 in 1972. If food prices had gone up 2.4 times during the 20 years to match wages, you - would see $2,67 round steak and the other projected prices in the chart. In the 20 years between 1952 and 1972, prices for food served at home advanced only 44%, Here is a comparison with wage in creases of major industrial worker groups; Make Agriculture!* the ** to bolster the M-»- ° LANCASTER FAI HARVESTORE E Auto workers Cons ruction worl Rubl jr workers Trans aortation wc Railn ad workers Tumhg the comj had gore up at the the aveage industri per hour instead of 1 amount to a 39% cut Half t f the increas in the >ast five yei going u] i 22%, wage; in 1972 alone, wag 10% wh le food was There a good reasc betweet| food costs to widea. In any con will remain a top vali we have D® en . „«-, $6.8 i w as $2 This grow’ he higher m 197 3 . the 4mor devaluation twcem „ Thi “? iStoyVtu get bet f I ',°“ort to toP ° u We must irnp , pated That r^ g coSt $ r - 1980. . products c A^ CU l o S ave the dollar, pt° m “ff' ore -than »* ® pO T!,S ‘W”k « USDA eto ttS the next * P ° SS1 ,»hto meet the oil bil Has lost its « Western Europe ° or The one thing v I® d ““ e aSi can equal . try . for world meat at e for high protei unmatched a ds ° nlogy intensive a{ teChn S in produc mOU wed marketing, SS?-mpto“ s ; ( Farm pioauctexpc the economy beal ® cost *
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers