November 8, 2011 9:51 PM
Obama taxing Christmas trees - starting NOW!
[Update: the Christmas Tree Tax has already been rescinded - thanks to the Drudge Report stirring up an outcry. Go, Drudge!] .Unbelievable. Starting a whole new government agency paid for with your tax dollars and staffed with government workers who will presumably vote Democrat.This guy is a mastermind:
Obama Couldn't Wait: His New Christmas Tree Tax
President Obama's Agriculture Department today announced that it will impose a new 15-cent charge on all fresh Christmas trees--the Christmas Tree Tax--to support a new Federal program to improve the image and marketing of Christmas trees.
In the Federal Register of November 8, 2011, Acting Administrator of Agricultural Marketing David R. Shipman announced that the Secretary of Agriculture will appoint a Christmas Tree Promotion Board. The purpose of the Board is to run a "program of promotion, research, evaluation, and information designed to strengthen the Christmas tree industry's position in the marketplace; maintain and expend existing markets for Christmas trees; and to carry out programs, plans, and projects designed to provide maximum benefits to the Christmas tree industry" (7 CFR 1214.46(n)). And the program of "information" is to include efforts to "enhance the image of Christmas trees and the Christmas tree industry in the United States" (7 CFR 1214.10).
To pay for the new Federal Christmas tree image improvement and marketing program, the Department of Agriculture imposed a 15-cent fee on all sales of fresh Christmas trees by sellers of more than 500 trees per year (7 CFR 1214.52). And, of course, the Christmas tree sellers are free to pass along the 15-cent Federal fee to consumers who buy their Christmas trees.
Read more at Heritage/The Foundry.
Posted in Obama Nation, Oppression | Permalink
Comments
Right. Because the Christmas tree being so rare, needs "help" from the government to market it. Sheesh.
In other news, "Government creates a tax on toilet paper in order to fund the Dept. of Derriere Affairs.
Posted by: Maggie Dee | November 9, 2011 1:25 PM
If this isn't a law "prohibiting the free exercise" of religion, I don't know what is. This is another great example of the Obama Administration's blatant disregard for our Nation's laws.
How on earth did they justify this one? I think we need a FOIA request for the memorandums and legal analysis behind this tax.
Posted by: Joseph (@lawyer_joe) | November 9, 2011 3:29 PM
I can't help but wonder if this was meant to test the waters. To set a precedent. Taxing religion.
I mean, really. It's only 15 cents, right? So small that it could either go unnoticed or laughed off.
And they got their answer. For now.
Posted by: Sue from Buffalo | November 9, 2011 8:13 PM
