Obama Admin. Announces Tax on Chistmas Trees…to Improve ‘Image’ of Chistmas Trees
- Posted on November 9, 2011 at 7:00am by
Jonathon M. Seidl
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Are you starting to get in the Christmas spirit? Feeling a little holly and jolly? Well, this might make you a little Scrooge-like. The Obama administration has just announced a 15-cent charge — or tax — on all fresh Christmas trees to, as the Heritage Foundation explains, “improve the image and marketing of Christmas trees.”
Heritage has more:
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.
The new charge, however, could mean bad news for the industry. Politico reports sales of fresh trees has declined lately:
Fresh tree sales declined from 37 million in 1991 to 31 million in 2007, according to the Agriculture Department. Meanwhile, sales of artificial trees nearly doubled to 17.4 million between 2003 and 2007, according to McClatchy.
“The economy is barely growing and nine percent of the American people have no jobs,” Heritage says. “Is a new tax on Christmas trees the best President Obama can do?”
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Comments (80)
JEANNIEMAC
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 10:57amWhat about a tax on menorahs, chocolate bunnies, kwanza boxes, etc.? It appears that Obama goes after symbols of Christianity What about taxes on Muslim items of clothing?.
Report Post »Many of my friends are already checking out jobs and homes in Alaska where they intend to move if Obama gets re-elected. There, they will work to have Alaska secede from the union, because America as we know it will be destroyed. ,
EqualJustice
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 11:05amI’ll move to Alaska with you and we can elect Sarah Palin as our President and bring ALL the true conservative lawmakers with us! I’M ALL IN. Looks like TODD had teh right idea all along. We would have plenty of natural resources at our disposal including lots of OIL!!! :)
Report Post »Marci
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 11:33amImprove the image? I think maybe they mean a faux board to collect extra money for their ski trips and in the interest of pretending to act, they will ban it from being called a Christmas tree and mandate it be called a holiday tree. In addition, they will demand no reference to Christ when celebrating Christmas (December 25 holiday?) to avoid offending Muslims and atheists!
Report Post »Who would Jesus bomb?
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 12:47pmI think obama wakes up each morning and thinks: Gee, what can I to to completely SUCK today??? As if he isn’t already the worst bum to ever “occupy washington”.
Report Post »KAdams
Posted on November 10, 2011 at 5:56pm@Marci
Great point. It will be Tammuzmas, though. Or Winter Solstice.
Report Post »Liberty2011
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 10:50amObama now staring as the Grinch Who Taxed Christmas
Report Post »agameofthrones
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 11:14amFunny how it’s now cool to call them Christmas trees when you are imposing a tax. Will there also be a tax on turkeys and hams and candy canes? Let’s just tax every observable thing about those Christian holidays. After all, Obama has said we are not a Christian nation.
Report Post »912er
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 10:45amHow long till there is a tax on the Kwanza block of wood candle holder? http://goo.gl/X0ef2
Report Post »sgrave
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 10:35amGreat, So now my tax dollars will be used to pay for a government marketing program for Liive Christmas trees ? The problem here is the law of unintended consequences ,
Report Post »ACLUHater
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 10:38amMore proof that this imposter is a complete dope.
Report Post »RootyToot
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 10:32amWe have always bought a live tree, but we also have a small table top tree as well. I will be putting the table top tree out as the centerpiece of our holiday decorations this year, put only our most sentimental ornaments on it, and display it proudly. Yes, it’s only a .15 cent tax, but it’s the principle of it all. Send a message to Washington….let the sale of trees decline this year…and let them know that this tax is not going to be tolerated. Why not a tax on menorahs? Why only Christmas trees. If Obama wanted to do something to prove to the world he wasn’t a muslim….this sure did nothing for the cause. What was he thinking??
Report Post »bosley4
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 12:15pmUsing that rationale, you should also stop buying milk and pork. Both ‘Got Milk’ and ‘Pork, the Other White Meat’ are promotion programs jointly run by the USDA and their respective industries.
Report Post »Cwhite761
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 12:53pmI simple soultion – buy your tree from a small local seller, one who sells less than 500 trees – and no tax will be charged. Let the small sellers reap the benefits of this tax with increased sales.
Report Post »Jwmajic
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 3:13pmThats the wrong way to go about protesting here. Instead of punishing the gov all your doing is hurting tree farmers who are barely getting by. We are having enough problems here in Washington state with the Eco wackos shutting down the timber industry. The ironic part is when you make it so people can’t make money off of timber the land often gets sold to real estate developers who strip all the trees off the land and build particle board palaces in their place. Its time people started to see the Forrest for the trees and realize a thriving Timber industry is the reason why western Washington is still mostly forest the timber company’s depend on trees and keep the forest green without them there would be no Forrest left here.
Report Post »obfuscatenot
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 10:29amMakes you wonder doesn’t it……Governor Walker just came out changing the Wisconsin State holiday tree back to a Christmas Tree, maybe good ole Pres. Obama is just helping Governor Walker.
Seriously, when you buy a “real” Christmas tree do you use cash? I do. Just trying to re-coup some of “their” money.
They’ll be taxing us on our bowel movements soon.
Report Post »Ronko
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 10:28amIt doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the Govt is prosecuting Christians for celebrating Christmas and this further proves that point.
Report Post »Eblaze44
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 10:25amThis is so so funny. You are already paying a sales tax on the tree and now they are going to add 15¢ more – wonder if that 15¢ also gets sales taxed. This is just about what you’d expect from a Socialist Democrat. I’d like to know how this tax exists without approval from Congress. Since when can the executive branch just tax and tax anything they want.
This should mostly hurt the Socialist Democrat’s anyway. If you were a true Christian – you would not be putting up a tree, you would be thinking of what gift you will give the Birthday Boy, Jesus, instead. You wouldn’t be giving toys to tots, you’d be celebrating the Birth of Jesus the Christ.
Where are the environmentalists – oh – now I see – this is a tax for cutting down trees.
and of course – the tax is paid by the consumer.
Of course there is a way around this – the tree farmer sells you the tree still in the ground attached to the roots. you can cut it yourself – or pay him $5.00 to cut it. You get the $5 off of you bring your own saw and cut it yourself. The other method, is to sell 499, then have your wife sell 499, then you son sell 499.
Nothing like creating another bureaucracy to eat more tax payers money and produce nothing.
this is like the local bed tax on hotels/motels – so the county can advertise your business for you. This county has exactly ONE reason for anyone to stop here, other than be on their way to Disney World, the Ichetucknee Springs State Park.
Report Post »David
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 10:30am“his is just about what you’d expect from a Socialist Democrat.”
Your statement is incorrect, and I suggest you learn this quickly. Our president is not a socialist. He is a communist.
Report Post »Jwmajic
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 3:16pm“This is so so funny. You are already paying a sales tax on the tree and now they are going to add 15¢ more – wonder if that 15¢ also gets sales taxed.”
Yes it is a value added Tax on producers who will include it in the price you pay.
Report Post »TheePolitinator
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 10:09amAnother fine example of taxation without representation..
Report Post »912er
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 10:09amOh, and another thing… What happened to the “Seperation of Church and State” I keep hearing about?
Report Post »MidWestMom
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 10:04amThe country is in shambles and this is what they’re spending time on?
Report Post »Another tax to finance another idiotic government program…..
business as usual in the Obama administration
smithclar3nc3
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 10:11amLast time I checked congress and only Congress has the Constitutional ability to levy a tax.
Report Post »Dahart
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 10:19amThat is why they are calling it a“FEE” I personal see as an Eco tax.
Report Post »HumbleCitizen
Posted on November 10, 2011 at 7:52pm@ smithclar3nc3
Report Post »Obama sez he don‘t need no stinkin’ congress :)
DrFrost
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 10:02amThe democrats solution to every problem involves some combination of:
1) Higher taxes
Report Post »2) Bigger government
3) Less freedom
KNaggieland
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 10:00amIf the Christmas tree did not have the word Christ in it Obama would have left it alone. Since it clearly spells out Christmas tree and does not use the politically correct terminology of Holiday tree could we not say this is a direct attack on Christianity?
If you call it a Muhammad the mad bomber tree then it would be subsidized and one would be waiting on your porch for you on December 15th Of course if it were a Muhammad tree it would probably explode into flames on Dec 24 and kill your entire infidel family.
the sellers of Christmas trees should print up tags for the trees with Obama made up to look like the grinch the explains the new tax.
Report Post »PilgrimStuckInBizarroWorld
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 10:11amNow that’s funny.
Report Post »TEA (taxed enough already)
TRUTH
53%er
Cain 2012
smithclar3nc3
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 10:13amCongress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion or PROHIBIT THE FREE EXERCISE THERE OF……..TAXATION ON A RELIGIOUS ITEM PROHIBITS THROUGH FINANCIAL PENIALTY
Report Post »CaptMickeyd
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 10:00amAre you freaking serious? Does the Christmas tree really need a panel to market its image? This is just another way to get tax dollars in the hands of Obama’s cronies. Wait until the names of the panel members are announced. I wonder if any of them will be Christian…
Report Post »DTOM_Jericho (Creator vindicator)
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 9:58amHere’s a thought. To obey what God commanded and protest obama… DON’T BUY A PAGAN XMAS TREE!!!! If you content the celebration is not pagan in origin AND continued custom, you are a liar and I don’t feel sorry for you at all. If you think that it’s okay to change an old pagan custom into something good… maybe your heart is in the right place however, you are not ALLOWED to do that. So, just skip it. Do Hanukkah maybe? It’s just a tradition, but your Jewish Messiah you refer to as “jesus” did it. W.W.“j”.D.????????
“John” 10:
22 Then came the Festival of Dedication[b] at Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon’s Colonnade.
b. John 10:22 That is, Hanukkah (even the NIV gets it)
Deut 12:
be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about their gods, saying, “How do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same.” 31 You must not worship the LORD your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.
32 See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it.
Report Post »Detroit paperboy
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 10:04am@dtom-jerricho
Report Post »Did u skip yr meds bro ? Chill out….
DTOM_Jericho (Creator vindicator)
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 10:33amWow, creative. I really feel like you got the best of me with that great line of wit you just dropped. How could I ever debate you? I will go hide my head in shame because I cannot counter your great point. Saul Alinsky would be proud.
Report Post »KNaggieland
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 10:52amlighten up there Torquemada, nobody is tossing kids into sacrificial pyres.
Jesus gave gifts that had no reason behind them than “just because I love you”. trust me you did not earn your salvation of that much I am certain.
As for the decoration of the tree: Sure Pagans did that too but pagans also gave Christianity the crucifixion without which you could not have been given the gift of salvation. I am pretty sure you rejoice in the pagan ritual/custom of Crucifixion since it did purchase your salvation. It is better to have a heart for God like David than a mind for God like the Pharisees.
Report Post »DTOM_Jericho (Creator vindicator)
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 11:54am@Knagg
Um seriously? No, I do not rejoice in the ritual of crucifixion. What should I do? Bow to a cross? Maybe have a graven image of one? Search for easter eggs? I don’t even understand your argument. You seriously think you made a point and you did not. You totally ignored that fact that you are given a COMMAND; do not do customs that resemble pagan worship and claim it is to HIM! It’s not a suggestion and your interpretation of “lightening up” is irrelevant.
Don’t have a heart like a Pharisee? “Paul” was a Pharisee and remained as such. He also told you to imitate him as he imitated Messiah. I think you were looking to use; SOME Pharisees? You are starting to sound anti-Semitic and pricked because Scripture is proving you wrong:
“Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. It is with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.”
Heart like David? Wow. David was a Jew and would not touch Saturnalia/Christ’smass/sun god worship.
“Jesus gave gifts that had no reason behind them than “just because I love you”. trust me you did not earn your salvation of that much I am certain.”
Report Post »Wow, how generic. Purely an attempt to touch the heart strings and remove logical arguments. Oh how you xians have learned from the left. A quip about salvation has nothing to do with proving xmas as permissible and trumping His command.
KNaggieland
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 12:59pmOk there. I guess lighten up was wrong. Obviously. I sincerely hope you strip all the non Jesus related symbols off all of your belongings. If you have a Dodge you better get that damn pagan goat off of it. file down the logos on the tv, computer and cell phone. one would not want you to be an idolater. Burn you id cards as they have seals with pagan symbols.
burn your cash and refuse to work for money as it also has many pagan symbols. and while you are at it get rid of store bought clothes and shoes they have all those nasty idols as well. Better rip down the dry wall and siding to check the framing lumber for symbols as well.
Military service is certainly out as it would involve those pagan rituals of salutes. No pledges of allegiance either. Oaths definitely a no-no.
As for the anti-Semite crap: from your keyboard to the soil in my rose garden.
Report Post »DTOM_Jericho (Creator vindicator)
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 1:53pm@Knagg
Pagan WORSHIP!!!!! WORSHIP! Can you get it? The Disciples used Roman money that had Roman symbols on them. They ate meat offered to idols and it did not defile them. THE DID NOT REPLICATE PAGAN WORSHIP!!!! Is there something you do not understand? And if everything you said was true, it STILL would not negate the COMMAND! That just means you persecuted yourself.
Yeshua(“jesus”) was/is a Jew. You can white-wash Him and all of the disciples all you want and it still will not validate your lie. Do you really think that there was a Jewish disciple named “James”?!?!? Do you really think that all Pharisees were hard-hearted? How about the one that dressed his body? That spoke of being born again with Him? Paul? No, no anti-Semite teachings there at all. You are confusing your words sounding like anti-Semitic teachings with me calling you an anti-Semite. You do this because you are acting emotional and you do not understand from where your teaching comes.
You want to enlighten me on pagan/illuminati symbols? Please go for it. However, don’t be above some teaching. All the names of mainstream christian Biblical figures and customs are pagan. This includes “Mary” and “communion”.
Report Post »912er
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 9:53amI thougt it was a “Holiday Tree”. The only time it is a “Christmas” tree is when there is a tax. Will atheists pay the tax when they just want one as a decoration?
Report Post »lylejk
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 9:48amBeen using artificial trees for years; are they going to add additional taxes to that too? Have to admit, you can’t fake the smell of a real Christmas tree (and I’ve more then once tried; pinesol comes close, but still no cigar). :)
Report Post »Pouncing Porcupine
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 9:53amFirst it was “tax whitey” with the tanning bed tax. Now it’s “tax klingy”? I’m predicting an egg-dye tax come spring and a flag tax in summer.
Report Post »CatB
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 10:07amTry Bath and Body Works.. for that Christmas tree smell .. they have different “pine” and non-pine scents .. you should be able to find one that says Christmas tree to you. They even have a scent that smells like a burning fireplace … I used that one at Christmas last year along with the tree scent (since I live in Florida).
TEA!
Report Post »agameofthrones
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 11:18amWaiting for the Bible tax to come next. After all, they are probably made from Christmas trees.
Report Post »graywolf11
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 9:44amThis only hurts tree farmers and the tax gets passed to the consumer. I personally view this as a tax on Christians, just like the tanning bed tax is a tax on whitey. What bad image does the Christmas tree have anyway??? I am sure if you are non Christian you don’t care about the tree anyway. In reallity, the tree is a pagan symbol anyway, has nothing to do with Christ’s birth. Gads the goons are STUPID. Taxed enough already??????
Report Post »CatB
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 10:04amYes … Yes I am TEA’d off … . 15cents is just the beginning .. we know taxes never go away .. only go up . and yes why Christians? .. why not tax “prayer rugs”? I will be putting out a nativity set on my front lawn this year .. I had considered getting a “live” (funny name for a murdered tree isn’t it!) tree this year .. not going to happen now!
TEA!
Report Post »Pouncing Porcupine
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 10:32am@GrayWolf
It is exactly a tax an Christians…and to answer you question about a Christmas tree’s image:
A Christmas tree evokes images of “Peace on Earth”, and “Goodwill towards men”. Neither of these concepts fits into the anti-Jew/Christian world view of Bamster and his Mohammedan bretheren.
Report Post »Barackalypse Now
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 9:43amThe Muslim in Chief hates Christmas/Christians/Jesus and God. If you think this tree tax is bad, wait until he suspends elections and starts hauling Christians off to FEMA camps for “showers”.
Report Post »Barackalypse Now
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 9:40amChristians being taxed for trees because Obama is a muzz and hates Christmas, Jesus and God. Just wait until we’re all hauled off to FEMA camps for “showers”. See Hitler’s timeline, Obama’s mirroring it.
Report Post »countryfirst
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 9:40amJust another way to needle us, our POTUS what a sap, is he going to now have a pine tar zar?
Report Post »searching for the Truth
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 9:38amDelegates can vote for whomever they want. Who is correct?
Report Post »gmoneytx
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 9:37amWhat BS…Oscrooga strikes again! Well kiss my white a$$, I have an artificial tree LOL!
Report Post »Hickory
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 9:35amPiece of Muslim dirt.
Report Post »AJAYW
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 9:45amAgree
Report Post »JLGunner
Posted on November 9, 2011 at 9:29amThis is such bull. Everyone should go out and buy a fake one in protest. Another way for the government to get into your pockets.
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