Tobacco buyout called windfall for the wealthy

http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/4840146.html

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A $9.6 billion tobacco buyout currently before Congress would distribute millions of dollars to hundreds of thousands of people throughout the nation, including Cargill Inc. and 142 other Minnesota investors.

The Minnesota payouts would range from a top amount of $196,286 to a woman from Chaska to as little as $48.71 to a man from Chanhassen. Cargill stands to get $7,498.

The figures are being made public today by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a Washington watchdog organization that opposes farm subsidies to wealthy investors and landowners.

"It shows you don't have to have anything to do with growing tobacco to benefit from this," said Ken Cook, director of EWG, which obtained the data from the U.S. Agriculture Department under the Freedom of Information Act.

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