What will they think of next?
Thanksgiving isn’t even here yet but the sugar plums have been dancing in the Obama administration for some time. Just this last week they unveiled their plan to give everyone a very Merry Christmas simply by levying a tax on Christmas trees.
No! ---------------- I am NOT making this up
The Federal Register published notice that a 15 cent a tree tax would be placed on all producers and importers of more than 500 trees. Oddly some Christmas Tree Growers petitioned the U.S Department of Agriculture for what they called a "Christmas Tree Promotion, Research and Information Order" which is intended to present a more favorable view of decorating with live Christmas which would increase sales. The Journal Times reported that tree sales have slumped to only 31 million trees in 2007 while fake tree sales had increased to 17.4 million in the same time period
As you can imagine there was a huge public backlash against this “Tax on Christmas” and ABC News has reported that the whole idea is being mothballed for now.
If you think this idea is new, think again! I would like to know how many 'fees' are in place now. You should run a contest to see how many there are. Most are passed on to the consumer and many have been in place for a while.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't it be better all around if their trade group -- http://www.christmastree.org/ -- did this without the gov't getting involved?
ReplyDeleteThis makes us look Fox News and the others reporting this issue look not really informed. Obviously it is a tax asked for and proposed by the industry to promote tree sales and probably research of commercial tree growers. It isn't much different than the beef check-off, pork industry, fertilizer, or wheat and barley check off dollars. If tradition and practice goes with this bill it will probably be absorbed by the growers just as the above mentioned ones are done. Very few times are the ever passed on to consumers, the farmers or the industry they represent generally benifit from the funding so it isn't passed on like it is intended to be. I almost never defend the Obama administration on anything but I think to make it sound like they want this is really a stretch. Again the agriculture industry does not do enough to educate the public, the media, and consumers about what it costs to produce what they grow. I for one don't think Obama has a clue where most of his food comes from, but he feels it all can come from Michelle's happy little garden, more power to him. I liked her a little more when I saw her digging in the dirt, but I think she doesn't have a clue about production ag.
ReplyDeleteWe need a christmas tree czar
ReplyDeleteI believe I read that the tax was going to raise around $2 million a year. By the time they collect it, pay a few high priced executives, and rent a nice office on K street there should be enough money left to buy a nice add in the mini nickel.
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