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

God bless our President, in all the things going on in the country he gives us our Christmas gift for the year. A 15 cent tax on all fresh cut Christmas trees sold in the US this year.

Now if this isn't crazy enough, this new tax is going "to support a new Federal program to improve the image and marketing of Christmas trees".

Don't believe me? Here's the link to the article: blog.heritage.org...

I am sitting here half laughing at this and at the same time half crying. Not that 15 cents is going to stop me from getting a tree this year, but what else are we going to be taxed on in the name of the public good?
I remember the colonists being miffed about a tax on their tea....and it wasn't because the tax on their tea was all that high either...instead they realized that taxation run amok without a voice to object is true tyranny in its purest form.

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.

i take offence to the term "Christmas tree tax".

either change it the Hanukkah tree tax or the holiday tree tax or i'm afraid i'm going to have to report you to a moderator.

My prayers have been answered! This is surely the greatest news of all, giving them 15 cents extra so they can in return put that in to advertising and marketing Christmas trees so we can buy more!!!!!

You don't have to go all the way back to the Boston tea party, just go back 40 years. The sad thing is, if you boycott this tax and decide to buy a fake tree or go without a tree this year you're only hurting the community. I'd be willing to bet this is just gonna line someone's pockets. Since when does a Christmas tree need advertising?

Oh this song came to mind, enjoy =)

Yeah? Well I'm going to go out into the woods and cut down my own tree this year.

TAX THAT!

Great idea! Tax the christians!

Obama should be worrying about sending people to die in pointless wars.

He should be worrying about the underclass of America.

He should not be doing ridiculous things like this.

Yes it makes no sense. People who buy christmas trees each year do not do it because of an advertisement campaign. I think someone needs to watch how the tax is spent very closely. I want every penny accounted for.

Actually I want no christmas tree tax more than every penny accounted for. This is just so absurd.. the worst the U.S. economy has been in decades, record unemployment.. Christmas a holiday of good will and cheer now has its own tax.

Does anybody have a link to the original 7 CFR 1214 document in it's entirety?

Another thread on this topic, but I'll repeat what I said in that one here:

Doesn't anybody on this site EVER do any fact checking anymore?

The NCTA (National Christmas Tree Association) - which is not a gov. organization - ASKED to have this SELF-IMPOSED tax collected so they can run advertising campaigns promoting live xmas trees (versus the plastic kind).

Since they can't collect a tax themselves they petitioned the USDA to collect it for them.

They began this in 2008. The USDA rules took 2 years to complete.

THIS "TAX" WAS SOUGHT WHEN BUSH WAS PRESIDENT.

Blaming this on Obama - well that's just Fox spin.

Artificial War On Christmas Campaign Launches Fake Obama "Christmas Tree Tax"

Never mind....

reply to post by Rockstrongo37


even these people of "substance" and "strength" that you wish to elect would have a hell of a time shutting down the beaurocracy.

do you honestly believe that Obama was even consulted about this...let alone devising it himself?

do you have ANY idea how the federal government works?!


no, no. it is much more fun to blame! fun! fun! fun! ...as you perpetuate the problem.

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


This doesn't negate the facts pertaining to the Obama administration enforcing this tax on us this year, and it is new this year, though not a new concept.

Also it has nothing to do with Bush's administration...and even if media matters is giving all the facts here, two wrongs dont make a right.

Finally, media matters is a notoriously pro-obama progressive outlet and honestly can't be fully trusted in its opinions, sorry but thats simply the truth.

Originally posted by Rockstrongo37
I remember the colonists being miffed about a tax on their tea....and it wasn't because the tax on their tea was all that high either..

I'd never actually botherd to find out what the size of that tax was, but according to wikipedia, this "Townshend duty" was three pence per pound. By weight, I presume.
At the 1772 rate of 2 shillings per pound of tea, this is 3 pence per shilling (each of which is 12p),
or 3 pence per 24 pence of tea
or one eighth.
12.5 percent.

wiki

Although doing a google search for this, there seems to be an urban legend around that it was 1 percent, (or three percent, depending on the version).

reply to post by tgidkp


LOL yes actually I do have a real understanding how the government works. Sorry, personal insults dont make a good argument. He sets policy, that policy is then implemented throughout various departments.

reply to post by Rockstrongo37


the insult was not my argument.

do you know how to read arguments?

reply to post by Rockstrongo37


So who should be president? I put a poll up here, trying to get as diverse a crowd as possible to vote (yeah it's brand new so there won't be many votes yet): jazoovian.wordpress.com...

reply to post by Rockstrongo37


Actually the colonists had their tax revolt because the King refused the colonies a voice in the House of commons.

C'mon man. Basic history.

Originally posted by randomname
i take offence to the term "Christmas tree tax".

either change it the Hanukkah tree tax or the holiday tree tax or i'm afraid i'm going to have to report you to a moderator.

I seriously hope this is sarcasm as otherwise it proves that once again the whole "offended" thing goes to far and people should grow the ____ up. And the whole "I'm offended/it is offencive to me/I take offense" thing offends me to no end so it should stop now. But it won't will it, so I suck it up, maybe more people should learn that.

I am not so sure that this is about what they claim it to be but China upset that they are losing potential lumber to the pagan holiday in their estimation. Perhaps they are calling Obamas shots on this one and insisting that for every real tree sold they get 15 cents.