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Obama Couldn’t Wait: His New Christmas Tree Tax
Heritage ^ | 11-8-11 | David S. Addington
Posted on November 8, 2011 7:34:44 PM EST by Driftwood1
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.
(Excerpt) Read more at blog.heritage.org ...
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Ho ho ho, bitchez.
"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."
How fucking pathetic.
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This is the type of shit that makes me nuts. It's pure redistribution of money to govt hacks.
FU Obama voters - every last miserable one of you.
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Obama Couldn’t Wait: His New Christmas Tree Tax
Heritage ^ | 11-8-11 | David S. Addington
Posted on November 8, 2011 7:34:44 PM EST by Driftwood1
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.
(Excerpt) Read more at blog.heritage.org ...
I don't get it. Christmas trees need help from the government image wise? huh?
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I don't get it. Christmas trees need help from the government image wise? huh?
It's not about Christmas trees!!! the same way green energy is not about energy at all.
this is another Obama money laundering scam.
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Just buy the plastic ones, problem solved.
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http://blog.heritage.org/2011/11/08/obama-couldnt-wait-his-new-christmas-tree-tax
More details. Obama is such a pofs. F U anyone planning on voting for him again.
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drudge has this on top w a funny picture of this Marxist thug.
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Bump for andre.
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Obama Couldn’t Wait: His New Christmas Tree Tax
Heritage ^ | 11-8-11 | David S. Addington
Posted on November 8, 2011 7:34:44 PM EST by Driftwood1
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.
(Excerpt) Read more at blog.heritage.org ...
Its a hoax report..... ;D
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Just buy the plastic ones, problem solved.
No, problem not solved. Obama is trying to start new money laundering scams w the revenue from this scam, just like the tanning tax.
and I wonder if he is going to place a tax on muslim prayer rugs.
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Its a hoax report..... ;D
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-11-08/html/2011-28798.htm
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http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=AMS-FV-10-0008
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Just buy the plastic ones, problem solved.
Problem is not solved by a longshot. Because liberal, socialist scumbags are still in position to come up with other ways to rob the people.
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Problem is not solved by a longshot. Because liberal, socialist scumbags are still in position to come up with other ways to rob the people.
When Obama proposes a tax on manurahs and muslim prayer rugs, then people will be pissed off.
Fuck obama and every leech and parasite planning on voting for him. obama and his putrid voters deserve each other, especially the brainwashed 95ers and guilt ridden white yuppie scumbags.
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Obama administration proposes 15 cent Christmas tree tax
By Alicia M. Cohn - 11/09/11 09:17 AM ET
The Obama administration is proposing a new tax on Christmas trees to fund a board promoting the holiday trees.
The Christmas Tree Promotion Board would be funded by a new 15 cent per tree tax on large-scale producers of Christmas trees. A group of Christmas tree producers and importers worried about the skyrocketing use of artificial trees proposed the new board.
Under the proposal from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the board would seek to revitalize the marketing and image of fresh-cut Christmas trees, which have been overwhelmed in recent years by sales of artificial trees. The Christmas Tree Checkoff Task Force, the group of producers and importers who suggested the board, said the market share of artificial trees increased 655 percent from 1965 to 2008.
According to the agency, the new board is designed to be an "industry-funded promotion, research, and information program for fresh cut Christmas trees." Board members would be nominated from within the industry.
Past marketing efforts have resulted in an uptick in fresh tree sales, but such "voluntary marketing program suffer from a lack of funding," according to the agency.
"Producers and importers that domestically produce or import less than 500 Christmas trees annually would be exempt from the assessment," according to the proposal, which is listed in the Nov. 8 Federal Register. Small-scale producers, along with organic producers, would have to submit an exception request to the board.
The proposed tax is authorized under the 1996 Commodity Promotion, Research and Information Act that authorizes the agency "to establish agricultural commodity research and promotion orders."
Source:
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/192583-obama-administration-proposes-christmas-tree-tax
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and you morons think Cain would be worse than this? please - Obama has to be the most ignorant boob to ever hold office.
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Crony Capitalism, Christmas Trees, and the Stupidest Tax of All Time
Sen. Jim DeMint's Blog ^ | 11/9/2011 | Sen. Jim DeMint
Mr. Grinch, Mr. Scrooge, meet Mr. Obama.
No, it’s not a joke. President Obama really is imposing a special new tax on Christmas trees.
And while the policy seems a ludicrous political misstep – and possibly an unconstitutional one at that – in truth, the Obama Christmas Tree Tax is much worse than that.
The $2 million the Obama Administration expects the tax to raise will not reduce the deficit or cover needed government services. Instead, it will serve as a marketing slush fund for the Christmas tree industry.'
The money will set up a brand new government agency called (no, seriously) the Christmas Tree Promotion Board. The CTPB will use the $2 million to hire a staff – most likely the industry lobbyists who cooked up this scheme – and then run advertisements to “enhance the image of Christmas trees and the Christmas tree industry of the United States.”
Don’t the Christmas tree growers and retailers already do that? Yes. Isn’t marketing something that all companies should do with their profits, to grow their business and attract new customers? Yes.
And while we’re asking questions, does anyone in America – anyone? – believe that Christmas trees have a bad image that needs taxpayer-subsidized improvement?
So why should the government-funded Christmas Tree Promotion Board tax us to fund a marketing campaign? So the Christmas tree industry can pocket the $2 million they now won’t have to spend marketing their trees.
That’s it. That’s the whole purpose of the Obama Christmas Tree Tax: to take money from hard-working families celebrating Christmas and give it to clever lobbyists and businessmen running a crony-capitalist subsidy scam.
And while this policy will, by design, help one group of people, it will hurt others: businesses that sell artificial Christmas trees, people who work at your local stores that sell them, and, don’t forget, the consumers who are out 15 cents a tree.
Business groups using government connections to enrich themselves by hurting everyone else. Makes you just want to break into “O Holy Night,” doesn’t it?
Hopefully, the Crony Capitalists in the Obama Administration have gone too far this time, and public backlash will force Congress to shut down the Christmas Tree Promotion Board and repeal the single stupidest tax of all time. I will soon offer an amendment on the Senate floor to do just that.
All I want for Christmas is a free market.
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more liberal al gore green bullshit.
curse the dems and traitor repubs that fell for this nonsense.
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Obama needs to be shackled and imprisoned. I then wish he were put on a plantation and put to work for 15 hours a day in the sweltering heat w his nasty disgusting wife.
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Obama needs to be shackled and imprisoned. I then wish he were put on a plantation and put to work for 15 hours a day in the sweltering heat w his nasty disgusting wife.
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Yes - send him to Jimmy Carters peanut farm in Georgia and put him to work for 15 hours a day and his pig of wife picking fruit off trees.
Sick of these two thieves. Both him and his wretched slob of a spouse need to be ousted and shamed for what they are doing.
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Sen. DeMint vows to repeal 15-cent Christmas tree tax
By Alicia M. Cohn - 11/09/11 01:03 PM ET
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) on Wednesday blasted the Obama administration for implementing a new tax on Christmas trees, calling the proposal a “crony-capitalist subsidy scam.”
The Agricultural Marketing Service, a division of the United States Department of Agriculture, on Tuesday established a national Christmas Tree Promotion Board that requires producers and importers of fresh-cut Christmas trees selling more than 500 trees per year to pay an assessment of 15 cents per tree as part of an initiative to improve the marketing of fresh Christmas trees.
“[D]oes anyone in America — anyone? — believe that Christmas trees have a bad image that needs taxpayer-subsidized improvement?” DeMint asked in a post on his official blog. “All I want for Christmas is a free market.”
DeMint blasted the administration for raising money to serve as “a marketing slush fund for the Christmas tree industry” and lambasted the idea that the government should collect money for any industry to market its product.
“[W]hile this policy will, by design, help one group of people, it will hurt others: businesses that sell artificial Christmas trees, people who work at your local stores that sell them, and, don’t forget, the consumers who are out 15 cents a tree,” DeMint said.
The proposed 15-cent per-tree fee would be imposed on tree producers and importers but could be passed down to consumers.
DeMint pledged to introduce an amendment “soon” that would repeal the “single stupidest tax of all time.” He could find some support among other Republicans, many of whom reacted to the proposed rule as the details spread on Wednesday.
Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) called the proposal “outrageous” in a tweet. In his own tweet, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) called it the Christmas tree industry "outsourc[ing] their marketing efforts to the federal government."
“The administration is once again challenging American liberty and now defaming the real meaning and spirit of Christmas,” Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.) said in a statement. “The size and role of government has already grown to epic proportions over recent years, and the administration’s use of the holidays to promote their goals of increased government intervention and a tax-and-spend agenda is simply unacceptable.”
The fee, which would fund the formation of a new Christmas Tree Promotion Board, was proposed by a group of producers and importers called the Christmas Tree Checkoff Task Force. The proposal was entered into the Federal Register on Nov. 8, 2010, and was open for comment until Feb. 7, 2011.
www.thehill.com
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Obama Administration to Delay New 15-Cent Christmas Tree ‘Fee’
Source: ABC News
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is going to delay implementation and revisit a proposed new 15 cent fee on fresh-cut Christmas trees, sources tell ABC News. The fee, requested by the National Christmas Tree Association in 2009, was first announced in the Federal Registry yesterday and has generated criticism of President Obama from conservative media outlets. The well-trafficked Drudge Report is leading with the story, linking to a blog by David Addington, a former top aide to then-Vice President David Addington, at the conservative Heritage Foundation assailing the president thus: “The economy is barely growing and nine percent of the American people have no jobs. Is a new tax on Christmas trees the best President Obama can do? And, by the way, the American Christmas tree has a great image that doesn’t need any help from the government.”
The National Christmas Tree Association says the fee would fund a program “designed to benefit the industry and will be funded by the growers” and is “not expected to have any impact on the final price consumers pay for their Christmas tree.” According to the Federal Registry, the proposed Christmas Tree Promotion Board, which would be funded by the new fee, would launch 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” and to “enhance the image of Christmas trees and the Christmas tree industry in the United States.”
White House spokesman Matt Lehrich told ABC News that despite some media coverage, “I can tell you unequivocally that the Obama Administration is not taxing Christmas trees. What’s being talked about here is an industry group deciding to impose fees on itself to fund a promotional campaign, similar to how the dairy producers have created the ‘Got Milk?’ campaign.”
Nonetheless, the criticisms have apparently had an impact as the program is now being delayed.
Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/11/obama-admi... /
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LMFAO - they are already doing damage control.
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These people would tax the air we breathe if they could figure out a way to cheaply monitor the amount.
Its a hoax report..... ;D
Are you ever right about anything?
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If there was ever a Money laundering scam - this is it.
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These people would tax the air we breathe if they could figure out a way to cheaply monitor the amount.
Are you ever right about anything?
Yep
http://www.politifact.com/oregon/statements/2011/nov/09/blog-posting/republicans-bloggers-needle-obama-creating-new-tax/
In Oregon, fresh cut Christmas trees are as cherished as hazelnuts and Hood strawberries: We grow a lot of them, so we own them. So it was with some astonishment that PolitiFact Oregon heard that President Barack Obama was trying to make it more expensive for people to buy holiday trees.
"Is President Obama 'the Grinch who taxed Christmas' trees?" queried a headline on the Los Angeles Times website. A Republican congressman from Louisiana issued a press release, slamming the Democratic president for trying to "sneak through this new tax on Christmas trees." By the end of Nov. 9, 2011, the conservative Heritage Foundation had logged more than 2,000 comments on its blog post, "Obama Couldn’t Wait: His New Christmas Tree Tax."
Locally, we spotted a Multnomah County GOP retweet of the Republican National Committee: "Obama admin creates new tax on Christmas tree farms, fees get passed onto the consumer."
What in the name of Rudolph and Frosty and the Polar Express was going on?
Oregon is the No. 1 grower of Christmas firs and pine, harvesting more than 7 million trees. (That’s twice the haul of No. 2 North Carolina.) Was the president seriously imposing a new "tax" that might make our holidays a little less ho-ho-ho?
As it happens, a national fresh tree group had sought the 15-cent tree assessment to better promote its products. It’s a "checkoff program"much like the ones already in place for beef ("it’s what’s for dinner")and pork ("the other white meat").
The Agriculture Department approved the idea. The Internet exploded. By the end of the day, the White House had decided to re-assess.
Betty Malone, an Oregon tree farmer who heads up the Christmas Tree Promotion Now campaign, said she was stunned anyone would describe the tree fee as something dreamed up by the president.
"It’s absurd. We’ve been working on this for three-and-a-half years. The industry has talked about this for 20 years," Malone said. "This started long before Obama" was in the White House.
To be fair, not everyone in the industry embraces the idea, although the National Christmas Tree Association reports the majority of responses to the proposed program were positive.
Would the fee be passed on to consumers? That’s unclear, said Bryan Ostlund, executive director of the Pacific Northwest Christmas Tree Association. "It doesn’t get automatically passed along, but somebody along the line has to cover it."
Finally, there’s the question of whether the 15-cent assessment is actually a "tax." The federal government monitors the agricultural marketing board that administers the money, but the revenue doesn’t go to government. Rick Dungey, spokesman for the national tree association, insists it is not a tax. (He also says consumers should not see a difference in tree prices.)
In Oregon, at least, revenue has to go into the general treasury in order to be considered a tax. If the government doesn’t touch the money, even though government mandates it, the assessment is neither a tax nor a fee.
But we digress. We’re talking about the federal government. Let’s turn to federal sources, with the help of national PolitiFact.
"It certainly doesn't smell or quack like a tax," said Robert Litan, the vice president for Research and Policy at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and a former associate director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Bill Clinton.
On the other hand, Dan Mitchell, an economist with the Cato Institute, says "a coercive levy is a tax."
We also checked with Stephen Bell, communications director for U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, the Louisiana congressman who vowed to block Obama’s sneaky tree tax, and Sean Spicer, an RNC spokesman. It didn’t matter to either of them that industry had sought the assessment or that industry was denying it’s a tax.
"It doesn’t matter who asked for it," said Bell. "It’s at the sole discretion of the Obama administration to impose a tax, and they decided to impose this 15-cent tree tax."
This is a tax, added Spicer, because "it’s not voluntary. It’s not a contribution to a cause."
So, where does that leave us? Sources appear split on whether this truly is a tax and whether the cost would be passed along to consumers. As for the claim that Obama created this new tax, that suggests that he came up with the program -- when it’s clear the idea preceded his presidency and originated with the industry.
Those are pretty big facts to ignore. So we rate the claim Mostly False: The statement contains an element of truth but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression.
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How the Feds Stole Christmas: Government Tries to Move Into the Tree Business
Capitol Confidential ^ | 11/14/2011 | Russ Harding
The Obama administration decided the federal government should be in the Christmas tree business as reported on The Foundry.org. Every fresh Christmas tree in the nation would be taxed 15 cents in order to fund a Christmas Tree Promotion Board.
Federal officials claim that the charge is not a tax and would not yield revenue to the federal government. Regardless of the validity of the nontax claim, the image of the Christmas tree does not seem to be endangered or require a federal bailout.
It is clear that many officials in the federal government do not have the faintest clue of what constitutes a proper limited role of government as envisioned by the Founding Fathers. It seems we could help reduce the federal deficit by eliminating entire programs and even departments in Washington, D.C. If federal officials do not have anything better to do than market Christmas trees, taxpayers don’t need to fund their salaries.
There is some Christmas cheer, however. Once the story broke, it caused so much consternation that the Obama administration decided to reconsider. The American people have apparently stopped, or at least slowed down, the Christmas tree Grinch.
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Main Content
Doc of the day: nixing Christmas tree 'tax' - Josh Gerstein: Doc of the day: nixing Christmas tree 'tax'November 17, 2011
Categories:Miscellaneous
Doc of the day: nixing Christmas tree 'tax'
Document of the day: The Federal Register Thursday carries a notice from the U.S. Department of Agriculture formally withdrawing the proposed 15-cent federal surcharge on fresh Christmas trees.
Just last week, critics pounced on the fee, labeling it as a 'Christmas tree tax.' In pre-election, rapid-response mode, the Obama administration did a same-news-cycle about-face on the fee, which was set to take effect on November 9—just in time for the holiday season. The administration "indefinitely stayed" the new charge, which was technically not a tax but an agricultural promotion assessment designed to encourage the purchase of live trees at Christmastime.
"While we are confident that the Christmas Tree program is compliant with all applicable law and supported by the domestic Christmas tree industry, the program will be stayed to provide additional time for the Department to reach out to the Christmas Tree industry and the public to explain how a research and promotion program is a producer driven program to support American farmers," Agricultural Marketing Service Acting Administrator David Shipman wrote in the notice published Thursday.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/joshgerstein/1111/Doc_of_the_day_nixing_Christmas_tree_tax.html