christmas tree

Chris Knight's avatar

Late last night this blog joined numerous other outlets in reporting that the Obama Administration was set to impose a 15-cent tax on all freshly cut Christmas trees. You can read that initial post for more information, including some stuff I came across during a bit o’ investigatin’ (I’m still curious as to who the heck the people behind “Christmas Tree Promotion Now” are…)

Looks like Obama and gang got the message: the tax is being put on hold. But not without some snide commentary from the White House…

White House spokesman Matt Lehrich told ABC News that despite some media coverage, “I can tell you unequivocally that the Obama Administration is not taxing Christmas trees. What’s being talked about here is an industry group deciding to impose fees on itself to fund a promotional campaign, similar to how the dairy producers have created the ‘Got Milk?’ campaign.”

Nonetheless,

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Chris Knight's avatar

This is not satire and it’s not from The Onion. I already checked and it’s true…

President Barack Obama’s administration is trying to impose a 15-cent “Christmas Tree tax” on all freshly-cut trees intended for Yuletide celebration. Fifteen cents on the sale of every tree to… get this now… “enhance the image of Christmas trees and the Christmas tree industry in the United States.”

Okay, two things that already stick out in this blogger’s mind: that this is a tax without any representation or due process, regardless of what the administration is arguing. Indeed, within the text of the “order” issued by the Department of Agriculture it is found that “…the assessment provided for in this type of program is not a tax nor does it yield revenue for the Federal government. These producer and importers funds raised by producers and importers are for the benefit of producers ...

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Chris Knight's avatar

Look, it’s our Christmas tree!

This year, Lisa thought it would be fun to decorate our tree with all the Star Wars ornaments that I’ve been collecting over the years. Which is something that I’ve never done before: until now, they’ve all been in their boxes, never removed except to momentarily oggle and admire. But after how we did up her classroom a few months ago, I guess Lisa had the bug to decorate other things with a Star Wars motif. Here’s a close-up of one part of the tree, re-creating the epic duel between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader…

If you’re a longtime, regular reader of this blog, then all three of you know what this post is about…

I’m going to take off for a few days, so that I can spend the Christmas holiday with family and friends. I won’t say there won’t be blogging here ...

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