Lincoln Journal Star on October 4: Editorial, 10/4: Focus on balancing tax system
Lincoln Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks touched off a firestorm when she questioned the push to reduce property taxes on farmland in light of the $112,966 annual income earned by the average farm from 2009 to 2013.
The story quickly drew comments that grew into the triple digits when posted online, and letters to the editor came in to the Journal Star before the story appeared in print.
Statistics swirled, and collected in deep drifts.
Time to pause and look for a better perspective.
When evaluating a topic as complex as the state’s tax structure, it’s wise not to give too much weight to any single statistic.
The income figure cited by Pansing Brooks came from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. No one would deny that the statistic was dramatically different from one that she cited from her central Lincoln disrtict, where 36 percent of households make $25,000 a year or less.