MMC
11-09-2011, 10:14 PM
http://news.yahoo.com/obamas-christmas-tree-tax-knucklehead-move-155900310.html
After conservatives howl over a proposed levy on Christmas tree growers, Team Obama reportedly backtracks on the 15-cents-per-tree fee
Welcome to the newest battle in the so-called war on Christmas: The Department of Agriculture wants to impose a 15-cent fee on each fresh-cut Christmas tree produced or imported by large domestic Christmas tree companies — which proposed the fee themselves as a way to fund a new marketing campaign designed to boost sales in a sagging economy. The fee was supposed to take effect Wednesday, but Team Obama is reportedly delaying implementation after a massive uproar from conservatives. Was this so-called tax really a "knucklehead move"?
By charging 15 additional cents a tree, growers are hoping to raise $2 million a year to help promote holiday sales, says the Chicago Tribune, especially as more and more recession-battered consumers opt for artificial trees.
So Obama isn't behind this?
No. "It has absolutely nothing to do with Obama," National Christmas Tree Association spokesman Rick Dungey tells Talking Points Memo. And "it's not a tax." Growers have been planning this initiative "for three and a half years." The government is just implementing it. It's unfortunate that someone is trying "to smear" us. All we growers want is to pool our money to promote our crops.
American tree growers still market "an estimated 17 million fresh-cut Christmas trees each season," says Ann Compton at ABC News. "But the real Grinch for them is the artificial holiday tree, for which [annual] sales have topped 17.4 million.".....snip~
Really.....a Christmas Tree Tax. Planned 3 years ago. Did they forget people get older and they are not going to go thru the hassle of buying a Real Tree. I use to get a real Tree. 3 years ago we wnt to the artificial tree. Not to mention it saves money in the long run. I think we got ours on sale for like 59 dollars.
After conservatives howl over a proposed levy on Christmas tree growers, Team Obama reportedly backtracks on the 15-cents-per-tree fee
Welcome to the newest battle in the so-called war on Christmas: The Department of Agriculture wants to impose a 15-cent fee on each fresh-cut Christmas tree produced or imported by large domestic Christmas tree companies — which proposed the fee themselves as a way to fund a new marketing campaign designed to boost sales in a sagging economy. The fee was supposed to take effect Wednesday, but Team Obama is reportedly delaying implementation after a massive uproar from conservatives. Was this so-called tax really a "knucklehead move"?
By charging 15 additional cents a tree, growers are hoping to raise $2 million a year to help promote holiday sales, says the Chicago Tribune, especially as more and more recession-battered consumers opt for artificial trees.
So Obama isn't behind this?
No. "It has absolutely nothing to do with Obama," National Christmas Tree Association spokesman Rick Dungey tells Talking Points Memo. And "it's not a tax." Growers have been planning this initiative "for three and a half years." The government is just implementing it. It's unfortunate that someone is trying "to smear" us. All we growers want is to pool our money to promote our crops.
American tree growers still market "an estimated 17 million fresh-cut Christmas trees each season," says Ann Compton at ABC News. "But the real Grinch for them is the artificial holiday tree, for which [annual] sales have topped 17.4 million.".....snip~
Really.....a Christmas Tree Tax. Planned 3 years ago. Did they forget people get older and they are not going to go thru the hassle of buying a Real Tree. I use to get a real Tree. 3 years ago we wnt to the artificial tree. Not to mention it saves money in the long run. I think we got ours on sale for like 59 dollars.