The Cow Flatulence Tax

The Cow Flatulence Tax

money.ca.msn.com

…livestock’s flatulence produces plenty of methane that drifts into the atmosphere. …According to some estimates, cow flatulence is responsible for about 18 per cent of all greenhouse gases in the European Union. …farmers in nations like Ireland and Denmark are forced to pay penalties as high as $110 per cow to offset the global warming-causing flatulence.

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
www.telegraph.co.uk

Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
EPA Weighs Farting Cow Tax
Methane Gas from Cows Can Now Be Measured?
An end to cow flatulence?

If the USA's 98 million head of cattle were taxed at $100 per head, America's tax revenue would jump by $9,800,000,000.00 (that's $9.8 billion, right?). …$9.8 billion could do a LOT for this nation's troubled economy, never mind global warming.

ON THE FLIP SIDE, my Dad was a small farmer who spent his life breeding a small herd of super-tasty Herefords. A tax like this would have destroyed him - except agri-business (with 10's of thousands cows per feedlot) and industry-created Mad Cow already did that.

So who would pay? Maybe multi-national agri-business corporations, but probably not - they've already divested risky production and left their contractors holding the bag.

Then there's Koch Industries, the second largest privately held corporation in the USA - owned by the infamous Koch brothers - and Koch Beef, a subsidiary. They don't intend to pay any flatulence taxes though, and put big money into the American Climate Change Denial Machine.

…Koch Beef, a subsidiary of the nation’s second largest privately held corporation …Koch Beef Company is one of the fastest growing companies in the beef industry, if not the fastest.

…Their motivation, simply put, is profitability.

"The only reason Koch Industries wants to be in the cattle business is because we believe on a large scale we can change the way beef production in the cattle industry works and make a very handsome return doing it," Robertson says. "That’s the only reason we’re in the cattle business. It truly is bottom-line driven. We’re not in the business to lose money."

Koch Funded Climate Change Denial

THE KOCH BROTHERS: FUNDING $61,485,781 TO GROUPS DENYING CLIMATE CHANGE SCIENCE SINCE 1997

Billionaire oilman David Koch used to joke that Koch Industries was "the biggest company you've never heard of." Now the shroud of secrecy has thankfully been lifted, revealing the $61.48 million that he and his brother Charles have quietly funneled to climate-denial front groups that are working to delay policies and regulations aimed at stopping global warming, most of which are part of the State Policy Network.

Today, the Kochs are being watched as a prime example of the corporate takeover of government. Their funding and co-opting of the Tea Party movement is now well documented.

When Cows Fart

A key producer of methane, cow flatulence is leading cause of global warming. Their slow digestion, mixed with a gas-producing diet of greens, causes excessive methane build-up. The issue is compounded by slaughterhouses, which store thousands of cows in one location, creating large clouds of methane. Neighbors and environmentalists frequently complain about the odor, as well as the negative effects on air quality.

Ireland and Denmark, along with other EU nations, have begun taxing cattle owners on cow flatulence. The “byproducts” of livestock like cows are responsible for approximately 18% of the greenhouse gases that are causing global warming, according to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN. Just $18 per cow in Ireland, cow flatulence will cost Danish farmers $110 per cow.

How Many Cows Are Stinking Up Our World?

an estimated 1.3 billion cattle are in the world today

According to the International Erosion Control Association, which tracks overgrazing, the world's cattle herd went from 720 million in 1950 to 1.53 billion in 2001.

In Africa there are an estimated 230 million cattle, while India hold's the world's largest cattle population with 283.1 million. The United States has 98 million head of cattle, while China has 130 million head.

The total number of cattle and calves in the U.S. on July 1, 2012, was 97.8 million head

BEEF: A Terrorist Plot?

…when methane is present at high concentrations, it acts as an asphyxiant. Asphyxiants displace oxygen in the air and can cause symptoms of oxygen deprivation (asphyxiation). …It is not expected to cause unconsciousness (narcosis) due to central nervous system depression until it reaches much higher concentrations (30% or 300000 ppm) - well above the lower explosive limit and asphyxiating concentrations.

Possible health effects of breathing in methane at high concentrations, resulting in oxygen deficiency, are increased breathing and pulse rates, lack of muscular coordination, emotional upset, nausea and vomiting, loss of consciousness, respiratory collapse and death.

money.ca.msn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

There are approximately 6.5 billion human beings on this earth, right now. Every one of them has gas... and I'm sure the methane we release each day easily surpasses that of cattle.

So should we have a flatulence tax levied against us? This is just absurd.

Thanks for posting this information, I'm absolutely dying of laughter right now. Please, TRY to tax me for breaking wind...

Would love to see the surveillance technology required for that one.

I see most taxes as BS taxes.

reply to post by soficrow

So who would pay?

That's an easy one to answer.

Everyone that eats beef. Everyone that eats dairy products. Everyone that uses products that contain beef, beef by-products or dairy products. Everyone that purchases cowhide leather products. Everyone that purchases products that are made by a corporation that uses or sells products involving cows. Technically, a person buying a package of cigarettes may be helping to pay the tax, since RJR owns companies that produce baked goods. Cow related products are found in cosmetics, soaps and many other goods.

So, the answer is, just about everyone.

All that wasted gas, you mean the factory farms have not yet figured out how to put a tube up the cows wazu to get that natural gas?

really if it was that bad they should be able to capture it somehow.....

"We don't need a stinking tax"

reply to post by soficrow


According to some, if we had been around to tax the dinosaurs, they may have hung around a bit longer.

articles.nydailynews.com...

This idea is nothing more than another money grab.

Now just where will this end? I know some pretty hefty beer drinkers that can do some serious air quality damage. Will a 6 pack be the next target for the flatulence tax?

All I know is,,cow methane is REAL.......Just outside of Belize city are cow pastures,,,,,,they feed the cows oranges because there are sooo many oranges there which may increase gas i dunno,,,Point is, when you drive through that area it is SO BAD,,the smell of methane is SO thick that i was scared to light my smoke,,,,until I experienced that,,I thought it was nonsense,,,,,cow methane can be really bad,,,Belize may need to be taxed...lol

It is amusing to see how revenue generating schemes are implemented... a process of nature is now to be eyed with the intention of making money exchange hands.... nice job middlemen!... another opportunity to siphon wealth and produce nothing in return.

Perhaps soon we will be charged for the BTU's that our bodies generate... the amount of solar energy our bodies absorb to create vitamin D, the space we occupy, the amount of O2 we "useless eaters" consume.

This is all about the ownership of nature... because that's what control is... ownership...

If we didn't feed all those cows so much corn and soy, they wouldn't fart so much. Nothing like having an overburden of bacteria in your guts to create gas. Is the tax going to stop the cows from farting? Geez, maybe some days I should pay the government some tax

Maybe they could add bay leaves to the cows food. That lowers flatulence in people.

reply to post by butcherguy


Are you advocating a sales tax to consumers, NOT a tax on producers?

???

reply to post by soficrow


All you would do is shoot the price of beef and milk up. You know, because inflation isn't already hurting food prices and making it less affordable which hurts the poor.

This is a terrible idea. While we're looking for ways to fix the problems government caused it would be prudent to not go out of our way to hurt the people of the US.

Maybe I should change my mood or hit the mute button.

These hidden taxes are getting so obvious nowadays aren't they. It's just another excuse for the governments to get more money for their wasteful programs. I bet not one cent of the tax gets allocated to do something about the problem.

reply to post by Maxmars

... a process of nature is now to be eyed with the intention of making money exchange hands....
This is all about the ownership of nature...

Nature? We're talking factory farms, burgers and fast food. Hardly "natural."

The world's cattle herd went from 720 million in 1950 to 1.53 billion in 2001.


(Thanks for posting. )

Worldwide Termites produce more methane than cows.

reply to post by PhoenixOD


So everyone who has termites in their home will get taxed also. They'll add it to the cost of the termite exterminators fees.

They don't stop no matter what do they?

www.dailymail.co.uk... html

Global warming stopped 16 years ago, reveals Met Office report quietly released... and here is the chart to prove it

And they've been lying and fleecing people for a very long time.

Methane should be a plus Just think, what passes through a cow, makes the ground fertile, without using poisons. Really good fertilizer.

And instead of us throwing our wastes into the water systems of the world, treated with harsh chemicals or not, as often is the case, I don't understand why they dont' take all of that and turn it into fuel for our vehicles and furnaces.

It only makes sense!

Originally posted by soficrow
reply to post by Maxmars

 

... a process of nature is now to be eyed with the intention of making money exchange hands....
This is all about the ownership of nature...

Nature? We're talking factory farms, burgers and fast food. Hardly "natural."

The world's cattle herd went from 720 million in 1950 to 1.53 billion in 2001.

That's because there are more mouths to feed.

So because there are factory farms we should tax them? What's wrong with burgers? You do realize that without factory farming that demand could not possibly be met right? Mom and Pop can't produce enough on their own to feed 300 million Americans and every country that imports our food products.

I don't think you can come up with a cogent argument as to why we should deliberately make food more expensive.