The White House has decided to shelve the proposed fee on Christmas trees, after which the rate was derided by critics as a tax on Christmas.
The tax of 15 cents on the Christmas trees was announced Tuesday in the Federal Register and was intended to pay for a new executive in charge of promoting the Christmas tree industry. Was supported by the Christmas tree growers who wanted a stable source of revenue to fund a new marketing campaign.
Related Video
A tax on Christmas trees?
Chris Stirewalt discusses the tax status of Fannie May with Utah Senator Mike Lee (R) and a tax on Christmas trees?
But change quickly drew complaints from Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., And others. Scalise described the charge as a "Grinch" move by the Obama administration and pledged to fight it.
White House spokesman Matt Lehrich told Fox News on Wednesday that the government is putting an end to the proposal.
"I can tell you unequivocally that the Obama administration is not the imposition of Christmas trees. What you're talking about here is an industry group to decide to impose fees on itself to fund a promotional campaign, similar to how Milk producers have created the Got Milk? "campaign," he said. "That said, the USDA will delay the application and return to this action."
The new program has come into force on Wednesday. According to the Agriculture Department's announcement, the government would impose a charge of 15 cents per tree, "the producers and importers" of fresh Christmas trees, provided they sell or import more than 500 trees per year.
The fee program and the support of some in the industry of Christmas trees. The money was not going to pay the debt or fund any other program, but designed to return to the new Board for the Promotion of Christmas tree.
The board of directors, proposed earlier this year, is the culmination of many years of effort by the industry of fresh Christmas trees to promote itself, according to background information provided in the Federal Register. The industry has faced increasing competition from producers of artificial trees, but efforts to raise voluntary contributions to a fresh marketing of trees repeatedly run out of funding. So the government stepped in with the mandate of a commission to support the Board of promotion.
Heritage Foundation Vice President David Addington, who first reported in the State in his blog Tuesday afternoon, said there are two problems with the new rate. First, he said, it is likely that the share of 15 cents would be shifted to consumers. Second, he said that it is inappropriate that the government puts on his "thumb on the scale," helping vendors sweetest of trees and not sellers of artificial trees.
"If it's one thing I think that the free market can handle, is to let the people decide what kind of tree you want to buy for Christmas," Addington told FoxNews.com.
However, the Agriculture Department spokesman, Michael T. Jarvis had defended the program, saying that along the lines of more than 20 other promotional programs supported by the department, as the "got milk" campaign.
"It has worked for beef, pork, chicken, eggs," he said.
Jarvis also stressed the fee is not considered a tax, as the industry is effectively "self-evaluation."
"This is not a tax," he said.
The industry itself further rejected the claim that the fee would be passed on to consumers. The National Christmas Tree Association, said in a statement that the "not expected to have any impact on the final price consumers pay for their Christmas tree."
The group said most of the producers that weighed on the proposal were in favor of it.
According to the Federal Register, the new board had to implement a "program of promotion, research, evaluation and reporting to strengthen the position of the Christmas tree industry in the market."
As part of this work, the board was charged with improving the image of Christmas trees and the industry itself. After three years, an industry-wide referendum be held to determine whether to renew the program.
0 comments:
Post a Comment