USDA Debt Relief for Black Farmers

March 29, 2021 07:37 PM •

Kelly Theiss

How many loans to black and socially disadvantaged farmers is USDA planning to forgive under the American Rescue Plan? The agency estimates it will be somewhere between 13,000 and 15,000 loans.

Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack made his comments at a House Agriculture Committee hearing on the state of black farmers regarding direct loan forgiveness. Vilsack says “120% — basically the loan gets paid off, 20% goes to the farmer.”

According to USDA, the extra 20% is to pay off the taxes. Ag committee chairman, David Scott, said this was an issue in a previous settlement of the Pigford case in 1999. Scott said, “Farmers were saddled with IRS tax bills from that Pigford settlement, leaving many of them worse off than before.”

Source: USDA

Kelly Theiss

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