The taxman got an early Christmas present from the Obama administration this week with the approval of a new fee on all fresh Christmas trees.
The Heritage Foundation reported that the United States Department of Agriculture announced Tuesday that it will be imposing a 15 cent fee on the trees in an effort to support a new federal program to “strengthen the position of Christmas trees in the marketplace, and maintain and expand markets for Christmas trees.”
The 15 cent fee, according to the Federal Register for November 8, 2011, will raise about $2 million, which will go to a 12 member “Christmas Tree Promotion Board” that will promote fresh Christmas trees and “grow demand for fresh-cut Christmas trees” over artificial ones — the fresh trees’ direct competitor.
A group of Christmas tree producers and importers comprising the “Christmas Tree Checkoff Task Force” pointed out that their industry has been hurt by the prevalence of artificial trees.
