Posted on 11/15/2014 5:42:24 PM PST by PROCON
This year, your real Christmas tree will be more expensive than it needs to be. That’s because the Department of Agriculture is imposing a fee on each fresh-cut tree sold.
A few months ago, the federal government created a national marketing program to advertise the virtues of real Christmas trees. It’s funded by a 15-cent surcharge that will be added to the cost of each tree sold. It’s not a tax, Washington insists -- merely a fee that you have to pay.
“The Christmas tree industry requested this initiative to fund Christmas tree research and marketing, the program will be funded solely by the industry, and the government is not imposing any tax on Christmas trees,” an Agriculture Department spokesman explains.
It’s a distinction without a difference. If a fee is imposed on a product by a government, it’s a tax on the consumer.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Maybe it’s for Muslim Outreach?
Call it a Ramadan bush and you’re good to go!
“An IRS rep comes out and counts the holes and/or stumps and keeps a running record.”
Could you imagine a country that can afford that kind of bloated bureaucracy? Democrats aren’t contenders in every national election because of unassimilated minorities; they instead rely on a massive government workforce terrified of the words “smaller government”...
They must think we’re galactic-level stupid. Haven’t they realized yet, that all the truly galactic-level stupid people stayed home on November 4?
Fifteen cents, people, settle the **** down.
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The amount means nothing per se.
The ‘problem’ is, they get away with .15 this year, why not .30 next year. By the time it gets to where ‘YOU’ think it is too high, it will be impossible to remove because it is so enrooted.
Think our ‘minimum wage’
Remember the no-smoking rules started as ‘allowing’ a non smoking area in a restaurant to no smoking in outdoor open stadiums.
Like confusioncus(sic) says
The journey of 10,000 miles starts with the first step.
We are already forced to recycle real trees here. The garbage man will not pick them up anymore. The first year they did it we took the truck picked out our tree and brought it home. The day after Christmas I removed the decorations, loaded the tree into the truck again and took it to the closest ‘collection place’. That was the last real tree we had. I said no more.
So because of their forced recycling of trees here they’ll not get their 15 cent tax from me.
Id bet burning the tree in a fireplace..might be illegal in many parts of this now wacky nation
Well considering most of the winter is ‘no burn days’ here......yeah.
In a few weeks I will cut down my “holiday” tree on my own land. Where do I send the $0.15?
as I understand it the no burn days were orignal intended for Industry ...rather then homes...but as politcal gangsters often will they insisted on ENLARGING the scope ot the “bans”
All right, I confess: My cousin was an idiot lying around on a couch in his mother’s basement, stuffing his face full of Cheetos. So one day, I heard that the Christmas Tree industry wanted a marketing and research program. I immediately called an influential friend high up in the government and told him I thought the Christmas Tree program was a great idea, and I knew just the guy to run it.
So now my lazybones cousin heads up the program, and the “fee” is 15 cents per tree, because all he had to rub together was a dime and a nickel while lying round my aunt’s basement!
PATRONAGE — IT’S WHAT’S FOR GOVERNMENT!
DANG!
The fee for privately owned land is $150, you can send it here
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It’s the government, they tax everything.
If people knew what a gallon of gas costs without all the taxes and fees added into it, they would revolt. Ditto for your monthly phone bill and electricity bill.
Probably to some kid of a Congress person who graduated from college with a marketing degree and huge student loan debt and this will give them the salary they deserve...
Does the fee apply to “X-mas” trees too?
“... fund Christmas tree research...”
They need a “fund” to be able to look at a Christmas tree and say, “Yep. That looks like a good one.”?????
Government resembles cancer in that if allowed to grow it will kill the host.
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