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Obama's USDA announces new Christmas tree tax*now canceled*

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Jacoby
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09 Nov 2011, 1:44 pm

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Obama Presents 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.


A Christmas tree tax to promote Christmas tree's, what a novel concept. Where in the constitution does it give the executive branch to power to impose new taxes again?



Last edited by Jacoby on 09 Nov 2011, 3:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.

number5
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09 Nov 2011, 2:06 pm

And for the left spin...

Quote:
Right-Wing Claims That Obama Murdered Santa Claus Are Grossly Exaggerated

Visitors to the Drudge Report Tuesday evening were treated to the headline, "OBAMA'S NEW 'CHRISTMAS TREE TAX,'" accompanied by a photo of what would appear to be the president freezing a child solid with his Jack Frost breath so he could snatch away her tower of Legos. As breathlessly relayed in festering Fox News subsidiary Fox Nation, it's a chilling tale of a Commander in Grinch and his plans to steal Christmas via the levying of a tax on all Yuletide shrubberies. Why? Because he hates Christians, of course. (It might stem from the fact that Christmas always overshadows Kwanzaadan, and the seasonal magic of its ceremonial goat raffle.)

Except a tax on Christmas trees has been in the works since 2008, towards the end of the Bush administration, when members of the National Christmas Tree Association convinced the Department of Agriculture to collect a fresh-tree surcharge in order to "fund research into marketing Christmas trees."

From the Federal Register:

The initial assessment rate will be $0.15 per Christmas tree domestically produced or imported into the United States and could be increased up to $0.20 per Christmas tree. The purpose of the program will be to strengthen the position of fresh cut Christmas trees in the marketplace and maintain and expand markets for Christmas trees within the United States.

Want to know more about the fascinating subject of Christmas tree marketing? The whole thing is explained in the fall issue of Christmas Trees: The World's Leading Christmas Tree Magazine. Meanwhile, Fox can get a head start on their next White House holiday expose, "Obama to Israel: 'Back Off of Iran or No Hanukkah Gelt For You.'"

http://gawker.com/5857770/right+wing-cl ... xaggerated

Seriously though, it does sound kind of dumb to me. Outside of supporting local tree farmers, why is it important to increase tree sales? How do we benefit as a society from this? But on the other hand, it's 15 cents, who cares? Meh, silliness all around. Glad to know our representatives are focusing on the important things. :roll:



Jacoby
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09 Nov 2011, 2:24 pm

I don't see the point of posting that, what I posted was pretty straight forward.

It's not our representatives who did this, it's the Agriculture Department who have no power to impose taxes. If Congress passed this then it would be merely stupid rather than illegal.



blauSamstag
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09 Nov 2011, 3:19 pm

This is clearly another liberal volley in the war on christmas



Jacoby
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09 Nov 2011, 3:30 pm

They're dropping it now. That was quick.



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09 Nov 2011, 3:57 pm

That would go to government promoting religion. It's illegal since all taxes are laws not constitutional mandates.

Amendment 1 - Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

*Edited for clarity.



Last edited by cw10 on 09 Nov 2011, 4:02 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Inuyasha
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09 Nov 2011, 4:02 pm

cw10 wrote:
That would go to government promoting religion. It's illegal on constitutional grounds since all taxes are laws not constitutional mandates.

Amendment 1 - Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.


Do you really expect us to believe that the money would be going to promote the sale of Christmas trees?

Additionally, last I heard there wasn't a problem with Christmas tree sales.



cw10
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09 Nov 2011, 4:04 pm

Inuyasha wrote:
Additionally, last I heard there wasn't a problem with Christmas tree sales.


There isn't, but the government can't directly profit from the sale or promotion of any religious item or service. That's another reason why all religious organizations are tax exempt. It is typical of Obama trying to circumvent laws. This one is blatantly obvious, that's why it was dropped faster than a hot potato on a sandy beach in Hawaii. :)



Inuyasha
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09 Nov 2011, 4:07 pm

cw10 wrote:
Inuyasha wrote:
Additionally, last I heard there wasn't a problem with Christmas tree sales.


There isn't, but the government can't directly profit from the sale or promotion of any religious item or service. That's another reason why all religious organizations are tax exempt.


What I'm saying is that this was an attempt to tax Christians on religious symbols while falsely state that it would promote the purchase of Christmas trees.

I agree it violates the 1st Amendment, but I doubt it was actually going to promote Christianity.



cw10
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09 Nov 2011, 4:10 pm

Inuyasha wrote:
cw10 wrote:
Inuyasha wrote:
Additionally, last I heard there wasn't a problem with Christmas tree sales.


There isn't, but the government can't directly profit from the sale or promotion of any religious item or service. That's another reason why all religious organizations are tax exempt.


What I'm saying is that this was an attempt to tax Christians on religious symbols while falsely state that it would promote the purchase of Christmas trees.

I agree it violates the 1st Amendment, but I doubt it was actually going to promote Christianity.


If it's written in the law, you have to assume that's what it's for. If they wanted to tax the sale of Christmas tree's they'd have to tax the sale of pine trees alone for some other purpose, and all pine trees would be subject to that tax.

Sorry for all the edits. :(



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09 Nov 2011, 4:47 pm

blauSamstag wrote:
This is clearly another liberal volley in the war on christmas


You know the season is upon us when Santa shows up at the mall and Fox News starts it's holy season of reporting Christian persecution. Personally, I think both should wait until after Thanksgiving, but maybe that's just me. :)

To the rest of you with your Constitutional panties all up in a bunch - technically, it wasn't a tax. It was a checkoff and assessment program, similar to the "Got Milk" campaign, that was requested by the growers themselves. It was a proposed partnership to boost sales, which have, in fact, been dropping rapidly over the past several years. This is/was really not a big deal at all.

Funny how this non-story is front page Fox news, but no mention of the voters rejection both union busting laws and personhood at conception. Fox is keeping it real on the things that truly matter.



kxmode
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09 Nov 2011, 11:23 pm

blauSamstag wrote:
christmas


http://www.kxmode.com/JW/What-Would-Jes ... Christmas/



LKL
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09 Nov 2011, 11:31 pm

http://www.snopes.com/politics/taxes/christmastree.asp
Not exactly a tax. Read the whole article.



Jacoby
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09 Nov 2011, 11:42 pm

It's a tax even if the majority of the "The National Christmas Tree Association" is for it. Why is the government collecting fees and running an advertising campaign for them? What about the Christmas tree retailers, or whatever you call them, that don't want to pay this "fee"? This a great example of that "crony capitalism" everybody hates.