This has to be a joke

Dale Hatfield · November 13, 2011, 11:24:33 PM

. A christmas tree Tax
http://blog.heritage.org/2011/11/08/obama-couldnt-wait-his-new-christmas-tree-tax/#idc-cover

Ron Wenrich · November 14, 2011, 05:19:15 AM

Not a joke. My understanding is that it was wanted by the Christmas tree growers to promote their product.

Rocky_Ranger · November 14, 2011, 07:46:14 AM

That's what I heard too, National Growers group lobbied to get it - but it has been KO'd. Pulled due to public pressure. Not unlike the Beef Check-off, etc. Not good nor bad, just is....

Dale Hatfield · November 14, 2011, 08:20:06 AM

Thats really a joke . The market is limited to christian based faith. Im sure they all know about Christmas trees. What is their to market ? The family Christmas that we grew up with is not know to today's 12 to 18 year old child. The Norman Rockwell picture doesnt work here. Familys dont have supper together anymore.
Type of tree ? If thats the case then growers with other than the newest greatest tree will not be helped. Only forced out by species marketing . Other than not made in China and support your local Farmer . I dont see the need. Really in todays use and throw away world its a perfect tree.
Maybe and I hope Im wrong that next year we see warm fuzzy commercials of the great family Christmas, that drive the sale of Christmas trees to sell out .

Competition has driven the price down by the glut of over planting. Fir trees grower in VA are so cut throat that a new buyer in town can name their own price. Ive been quoted as low as 14 bucks a tree my choice .

beenthere · November 14, 2011, 11:51:13 AM

Dale
I don't understand what you are trying to say, but the Christmas tree business seems to be thriving quite well. The price they sell for will surely depend on the supply and the demand.

I think there are other similar Gov't marketing schemes that collect money from product sales so there can be marketing money available. Milk comes to mind. Something I read made it sound like there are about 20 similar marketing programs like the one the Christmas Tree association (s) tried to get in place. Hopefully they raise the rug and look at the other susidies as well, but when pushing for larger Gov't it isn't likely.

zopi · November 14, 2011, 12:23:10 PM

Hate killing a perfectly good tree just to hang stuff on for a few days...big fan of balled trees planted somewhere...

Even though they are grown for the purpose...yeah, tree hugger...so? lol

rbhunter · November 14, 2011, 06:17:41 PM

Posted by: zopi
Insert Quote
Hate killing a perfectly good tree just to hang stuff on for a few days...big fan of balled trees planted somewhere...

Even though they are grown for the purpose...yeah, tree hugger...so?

I may be looking at it wrong but if the tree was not grown for a Christmas tree than there probably would not have been a tree grown there. Kind of like the paper industry in my mind. By cutting down on paper does it really save trees or does the land used to grow the trees for paper become used for something else like pasture?

Dale Hatfield · November 14, 2011, 07:24:06 PM

I guess what Im saying is the marketing is done. your either going to buy one or put up a fake one.
The real cut tree cost more in the long run. Ive paid as High as 80 bucks for one I think it was a Concolor fir. I however dont have to store it and can have a new look each year .
I dont believe that giving USDA 15 cents per tree was going to gain them anything. Dont get me wrong .I believe that a % of people could be convinced to buy a real tree and not put up the fake one. However the marketing money needs to be collected in house by the growers ass. and spent by them on a marketing firm.

zopi · November 14, 2011, 07:59:31 PM

Quote from: rbhunter on November 14, 2011, 06:17:41 PM

Posted by: zopi
Insert Quote
Hate killing a perfectly good tree just to hang stuff on for a few days...big fan of balled trees planted somewhere...

Even though they are grown for the purpose...yeah, tree hugger...so?

I may be looking at it wrong but if the tree was not grown for a Christmas tree than there probably would not have been a tree grown there. Kind of like the paper industry in my mind. By cutting down on paper does it really save trees or does the land used to grow the trees for paper become used for something else like pasture?

Of course not, there are many ways of looking at it...pig, chicken, cow, possum (ok, maybe not) I jist prefer to see folks get out and plant a tree, and I realize that not everyone can or will, but if I get one or two folks every year to plant "remember when" christmas trees, then so mich the better.
Besides, I have a tree service...future business, you know...

shelbycharger400 · November 14, 2011, 09:04:59 PM

somewhere underlining in a back room deal is funding some shananagins as with all gov "taxes" or just another way to "create" a non productive government job or pannel of jobs.

one i can think of is few years back, some gov individual decided due to northern mn lacking jobs, so they created a dmv station for titles and tabs, all information was processed and rechecked, then was sent to saint paul department, rechecked and processed.

Al_Smith · November 14, 2011, 09:05:36 PM

Oh little kids like them and that's neat .The one we have now sits on the mantel and goes in a box, lights bulbs and all after the season .The others are growing in the yard ,a few about 70 feet tall .

Kansas · November 15, 2011, 07:55:38 AM

My guess is, if it was going to be done like the beef checkoff, the vast majority of consumers would not even know it existed. The tax is not an add on tax. Its taken right from the producer. I would think that is the way this tax would have been, or should have been. A tree producer figures up all the trees he has sold over the season and sends in the tax. I can't imagine they would have it as a line item on the sales ticket.

Would it help the tree producers? It very well could. A lot of people put up artificial, or don't put them up at all. Some may be afraid of the mess, or safety aspects. I do think the beef checkoff has more than paid for itself. Advertising usually pays.

Chris Burchfield · November 15, 2011, 08:34:11 AM

Never thought of it but I don't see an Atheist or other non Christian people buying a Christmas tree. No loss there, they weren't going to buy one anyway. Being a retired Fire Marshal, I have a great room with a wood burning fire place. A live tree would be 10 feet from the opening of the fire place. I've not allowed that since we moved in to the home new in 1983, not gona start now. I let the wife buy/get which ever tree she wants being artificial. I left a Christmas party once and having been gone thirty minutes, called the friend/homeowner. His wife had decorated using the small mini bulbs in an oak strip basket with white selifan Easter basket stuff in it. The selifan like silk plants and trees are not fire resistant like the artificial Christmas trees. I saw a man barley escape a home fire where his wife decorated a silk ficus tree with the little lights in a paneled den. She went off to church, he went back to bed with the flu. Forty minutes later he woke to a smoke alarm going off. By then the den was blowin and going. I know I've gone off on a tangent, but I hope you all have a safe holiday season free from a home fire. Maybe I should have just posted this under the safety section.

thecfarm · November 15, 2011, 08:53:27 AM

We have a fake one. There is a post on here about us trekking through the Christmas tree place looking for that "perfect" tree. Finally get it down to 20 trees than trying to remember where was that one that she really thought was the best was. Than get it home only to hear,if I would of noticed that I would not of bought it. She is also the type that wants it up on Dec 1.

Kansas · November 15, 2011, 09:25:20 AM

A Christmas tree story.

Back in the married days, we would put up a tree. First year out on the farm, the kids and I went out to get an Eastern red cedar tree from the pasture. They aren't that great looking, but the price was right. After managing to get them to give up on the 15 ft tall ones, we settled on one about 8 ft. We had quite a time getting it through the door, being cedar trees grow about as wide as they do long. But got it set up, decorated, and all was right with the world.

Well, not quite.

Seems that spiders lay eggs in ERC trees. Or at least they did with this one. And after a few weeks of heat, they hatch. Day after Christmas wife starts to decorations off the tree. Sees spiders crawling all over it. She throws open the door, grabs the tree, and makes a run at it. Now I had trouble getting the tree in the door butt end first. She went at it the opposite direction. Bear in mind she might have weighed 110 lbs sopping wet. Didn't matter. She hit the door at a full run. Never slowed down a bit. What branches didn't bend, broke off. The tree, decorations and all went right out into the yard. Branches followed in record time. She had the vacumn going 30 seconds after the tree hit the yard.

metalspinner · November 15, 2011, 09:52:38 AM

:D :D :D

We finally went with a fake tree a few years ago. It was always a hassle getting out and picking the "perfect" tree. Arguments and frustration took the fun out of it.

Now the only argument we have is how long we leave the fake one up. :

Dodgy Loner · November 15, 2011, 10:40:07 AM

The day my wife and I pick out and decorate the tree is one of the best days of the year for me - she's already been telling me how much she's looking forward to it. No fake trees for us. Oh, and I have an aunt and uncle who are Buddhists who have a Christmas tree every year. When in Rome, I suppose :D

clww · November 15, 2011, 06:26:16 PM

We'll be putting up two fake trees here this year. Got too many ornaments for only one tree.

Dale Hatfield · November 15, 2011, 06:59:03 PM

Their are some trees now fir I believe that are DanG near fire poof. In years past a Christmas tree would be in the woodburner by Jan. But the last few years that have been rabbitat as the darn things wont burn. You can hold a lighter to the needles and they wont go off.

SwampDonkey · November 16, 2011, 06:58:09 AM

Not all Christian faiths put up Christmas trees. Although primarily Christians do it. But just because your Christian doesn't mean you fall into all the commercialization around Christmas. ;)

The tax, as Kansas suggests is probably more properly labeled as a levy on the producer. This is done with many agricultural commodities: wood, Christmas trees, potatoes etc... Christmas tree growing is considered an agricultural practice and levies help with marketing of products. In the three products I mentioned, the marketers behind them here in NB are not government employees at all. However, It takes an act of government to make it legal, and there is government oversight for sure. But the oversight also involves the producer who is elected by the membership of an association.

Patty · November 16, 2011, 07:52:24 AM

For me, the best part of Christmas is hiking through the tree farm picking out the "perfect" tree with my sons, and now my grandsons. Last year Norm set the limit at a tree not more than 10' tall, and while that cramped my style a little, I still look forward to the event.

sprucebunny · November 16, 2011, 06:05:25 PM

My land must have a million 6-8 foot tall balsam trees. None of them would get any prizes as a Christmas tree but when I take 3-5 of them and zip tie them together, they look pretty good with lights on the porch outside the sliding door ;D

And I leave them there until April cause I like the cheeriness.