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| Obama Couldn’t Wait: His New Christmas Tree Tax Posted by William Dwyer on 11/12, 3:58pm | ||
| You couldn't make this up. Well, maybe you could, as it looks exactly like something Wesley Mouch would have proposed. President Obama’s Agriculture Department today (November 8th) 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 expand 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). It seems that fresh Christmas trees are loosing business to the artificial Christmas tree market. Nevertheless, on November 9th, the White House announced that implementation of the program would be delayed due to unfavorable public reaction. | ||
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