Call Obama "Father Christmas" ... here comes his new Christmas Tree Tax!, page 2

mediamatters.org...

Right-wing media figures are accusing the Obama administration of seeking to impose a tax on Christmas trees; but the Christmas tree industry has been working since 2008 -- before President Obama was elected -- to partner with the Department of Agriculture and establish a marketing campaign funded by tree growers in order to promote the sale of fresh Christmas trees.
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Far from a tax initiated by the Obama administration, the proposal to create an assessment on tree growers to fund a research and promotion program through the USDA was begun by the industry during the Bush administration.

In February 2008, faced with declining sales, members of the National Christmas Tree Association created a task force to consider the merits of a checkoff program, which would allow the USDA to collect a fee from growers in order to fund research into marketing Christmas trees.

reply to post by Rockstrongo37

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Run head long and swift with that touch of ignorance, Strongo.

This tax was lobbied for by members of the tree industry, it was also initiated by Father Bush in
2008.

thehill.com...

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[s] 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."

Sadly, we have tyranny running amok in our government, the movement toward bigger more intrusive government will continue until we finally stand up and say enough.

And I'm not talking about camping out in a park, crapping in buckets, and holding signs. I mean voting in people of substance, people of strength, and people with enough faith in the American's ability to govern themselves, not needing the big greedy hand of a nanny state to wipe our butts for us, clothe us, feed us, or even employ us.

We don't need the government to tax Christmas tree sales to "improve the image and marketing of Christmas trees", our government needs to get out of the way and let us market our own trees and our tree farmers will probably do a better job at it than the government ever could.

You mean the tyranny of private lobbyists lobbying the government???

The effort was spear headed because artificial trees are out taking real trees, with a grown in
that market that has increased 6 times in the last five decades. The is a pretty fast encroachment
on the fresh tree industry business wise.

Don't you read your own material? I mean you are completely wrong about the placement of
your ire. Are you gonna correct that anger in your mind or carry around like you don't know
better now?

reply to post by randomname

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Really? You're taking the yellow liquid right?? It's Christmas, not Hanukkah, not holiday season, it is a celebration of Jesus Christs birthday, CHRISTMAS.

What the hell is wrong with people these days??

Christmas is named after the birth of Jesus Christ. The "mas" part of Christmas comes from the Roman Catholic term "mass." Christmas was originally a mass for Christ, to celebrate His birth. Read more: wiki.answers.com...

reply to post by buddhasystem

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I was going to post this link. Thanks.

I've had to send this to a bunch of alarmists sending their chain emails out today.

The further right people get, the more divorced from facts they seem to get.

reply to post by woogleuk

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Yes! How dare people celebrate an imaginary man that isn't your imaginary man!

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.”

abcnews.go.com...

*Emphasis is mine

This is a non-story. The x-mas tree industry wants to impose the fee on itself, so let them.

reply to post by mastahunta

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Again you and some of your friends are trying to make this a Democratic vs. Gop thing, it isnt. Both parties are rotten to the core, and I am far from ignorant, but thank you for your stern correction "Dad" lol.

reply to post by jtap66

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If you don't like it, or believe in it, don't do it, don't get involved, sit at home whatever. For the record, Jesus wasn't imaginary, he was a real man, it's whether he was the son of God or not people call into question. Either way he, by all accounts, was a good man, so nothing wrong with celebrating his birth.

As for the tax on trees, well, just another tax in another long list of taxes, there will be more.

Here in the UK I'm sure even some of the taxes are taxed!

reply to post by Rockstrongo37

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you've been totally powned

now man up and admit it

reply to post by woogleuk

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For the record, whether Jesus actually existed or not is hardly proven. There's a good argument to be made that he didn't.

nobeliefs.com...

Either way, other faiths celebrate holidays around Christmas. Christianity itself lifted most of its Christmas celebrations from earlier pagan religions anyway. Christians don't own the entire month of December. get over yourself.

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