Last week the Heritage Foundation sent a warning about the Farm Bill; Hold On To Your Wallets: Farm Bill Incoming! Now they are back to tell us what every taxpayer needs to know. How about this - A Christmas Tree Tax is included?

Both the House and Senate Agriculture Committees passed legislation to reauthorize federal farm and food stamp programs—these bills will soon be considered by the full House and Senate. These so-called “farm” bills were considered in the 112th Congress but were blocked by widespread conservative opposition. Proponents are once again seeking to pass the legislation though Congress.

Here are a few things every taxpayer needs to know:

COST: The House bill costs $940 billion over ten years. By comparison, the last farm bill, enacted in 2008 with the initial cost of $604 billion. That equals a 56% increase in farm and food aid since the last reauthorization. Proponents argue that the bill will save $33 billion, but not in any real world sense. The bill includes policies that over ten years will cost 56% more than the last farm bill.

Food Stamp Nation: Roughly 80% of the bills are comprised of food stamps. This is because there are now nearly 48 million individuals on food stamps, compared with 30 million in 2008 and 17 million in 2000. One in seven Americans is now collecting food stamps. Yet, the reduction to the food stamp program made by these bills are miniscule (2.7% in the House and 0.5% in the Senate), not the sort of reforms needed to roll back the program. This is one reason why most conservatives are so intent on splitting up the bill between its food stamp and farm subsidy components—a reform ignored by both Agriculture Committees.

Unaffordable Subsidies: The remaining 20% of the bill contains lavish price supports and revenue guarantees for farmers.

Violation of the GOP Pledge to America: Packaging the food stamp spending and commodity subsidies together is the definition of legislative “logrolling” that has been used for generations to shield these programs from bold reforms by securing as large a coalition of supporters as possible.

And now a Christmas tree tax add-on!

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