Tax Dollars Going To Dead Farmers

Millions of your tax dollars are being paid to nearly 2,400 people in Florida, just over 250 in Central Florida, who may not deserve one cent. That's because federal records show they're dead. WFTV obtained the entire federal list of dead farmers (read it) who may still be receiving tax dollars. Reporter Berndt Petersen reveals abuse in the federal farm aid program. John Arnold's family has grown citrus in Lake County for three generations. But if there's one thing about farming that really burns him up, it's fraud. He hates government subsidies that are paid to people who don't deserve them. Nearly 2,400 people in Florida, who received more than $88 million tax dollars in the form of federal farm aid, have one thing in common: they're all dead. "People do the same thing with social security checks. Their relatives are cashing the checks when the person is dead. That's against the law," Representative Cliff Steams (R-Ocala) said. Stearns said the U.S. Department of Agriculture was told about it in 2007, when the Government Accountability Office discovered 172,000 dead people nationwide received $1.1 billion in farm aid. "The federal employees are derelict in their duty. They know about it. Why aren't they doing something about it?" Stearns questioned...more

Who knows, the federal employees might be dead too.