United States-Farmers object to new tax laws.

UNITED STATATE-FARMERS LOSE PRIVACY.

Farmers concerned about sharing income information for farm payment eligibility shouldn’t worry. That’s according to Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, "It would be just the USDA contacting the IRS and saying is this farmer’s income above or below this level."

A new prerequisite for farm payments is for producers to fill out an income form that their county FSA office sends to the IRS for verification, "If the IRS says your income’s above that level that’s a determination, do you get farm payments or not," says Grassley.

Grassley says concerns about the USDA seeing every detail of a producer’s tax records is a non-issue because it’s not going to happen, "They wouldn’t need to know how much you gave to church, how much you, you know, spent on this or that."

USDA previously did not have access to farmer’s IRS information. A Government Accountability Office report found nearly $50-Million in farm program payments were made last year to ineligible recipients. The 2008 Farm Bill does not allow payments to anyone with a taxable non-farm income over $500-thousand.