Inspired Idea: Tax Breaks For Victory Gardens

If you aren't familiar with the group Kitchen Gardeners International, you might soon become familiar with them as they have been in the news a lot lately thanks to founder Roger Doiron, http://www.kitchengardeners.org/

His group advocates growing your own via "Kitchen Gardens," and his newest idea is brilliant, he asks the question: "Which Will Be First State to Offer Tax Breaks for Victory Gardens?

As he says: "We provide fiscal incentives to people to encourage them to put hybrid cars in their garages and solar panels on their roofs, so why not offer incentives for solar-powered, healthy food production in their backyard? With wars still waging, food and oil costs rising, and paychecks stretching to the breaking point, now is the time for a home-grown revival. What better way to usher in this revolution than by marrying two great American traditions: vegetable gardening and tax cuts?"

As Doiron points out, the wartime "Victory Garden" campaign was a huge success, with over 20 million gardens growing 8 million tons of food by 1943. He also points out that more home gardens would offer us victory not only over rising food and health care costs, but also foreign oil dependency and climate change.

His ideas consider local, state, and federal breaks for home gardeners such as removing sales tax on seeds, fruit bushes, and seedlings and even giving an income tax break for people similar to the deduction with home offices that allow you to deduct based on square footage. As Doiron suggests: "The bigger your garden, the better the tax break. Those with no yard could deduct the rental fee for a community garden plot."