"Christmas tree tax" sidelined after uproar

Forest worker Peter Otto carries two fir trees during the official opening of Christmas tree season in Stolpe, northern Germany, on Nov. 9, 2011. / CARSTEN REHDER/AFP/Getty Images

CARSTEN REHDER/AFP/Getty Images

Amid an uproar from conservative critics, the Obama administration has decided to delay implementation of a fee that would have allowed the Christmas tree industry to create a promotional campaign to encourage people to buy fresh-cut pine trees, the White House said Wednesday.

The United States Department of Agriculture "is going to delay implementation and revisit this action," White House Assistant Press Secretary Matt Lehrich told CBS News over email.

The fee, nicknamed the "Christmas tree tax" by its opponents, would have implemented a 15-cent-per-tree charge on Christmas tree suppliers who sold or imported over 500 trees a year, according to USA Today.

The White House was adamant that the White House was not seeking to impose a tax on Christmas trees.

"I can tell you unequivocally that the Obama Administration is not taxing Christmas trees," said Lehrich. "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."

The USDA said most growers are in favor of the fee because it would ultimately help their bottom line. Agriculture Department spokesman Michael T. Jarvis told FOXNews.com that there are over 20 similar promotional campaigns supported by the department, which have helped their respective industry grow.

"We have good reason to believe it [would] be successful for our industry," Betty Malone, an Oregon tree farmer and president of Christmas Tree Promotion Now, told the Miami Herald Tuesday. "We looked at what other industries have done, and how successful they've been."

PICTURES: Christmas trees from around the world
Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree coming from Pa.
Christmas tree for US Capitol on way from Calif.

But some conservative pundits claimed that the fee was a Grinch-inspired move. Heritage Foundation Vice President David Addington, who wrote about the fee on his blog on Tuesday, claimed President Obama was killing the spirit of Christmas by "taxing" a time-honored tradition, and warned that the fee could potentially raise the prices of trees - even though the National Christmas Tree Association insisted that the fee would not be passed on to consumers.

Criticisms of the fee swept across the conservative media landscape Tuesday night, landing the lead spot on the influential "Drudge Report" and prompting outrage from numerous conservative-leaning blogs.

According to Addington, one of the largest concerns was that the "Christmas tree tax" proved just how much Big Brother was controlling our lives. By allowing the Christmas tree industry to promote their own products, he argued, the government was creating an unfair market advantage against plastic tree resellers.

"If it's one thing I think the free market could handle, it's letting people decide what kind of tree they want to buy for Christmas," Addington told FoxNews.com.

[Mike6504]

This is obviously an attempt by the large growers to use the government to place an unfair burden on the smaller competitors within the industry. It's the same old story. This is exactly why we have megacorporations, and fewer and fewer small, Mom and Pop small businesses.

[dawnfromcali]

Jeremiah 10:2-4 in the Bible says the following (King James Version):

[2] This is what the Lord says: Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the sky, though the nations are terrified by them. [3] For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. [4] They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter.

[johnnytechnorockstar]

Troll...

[doneinone]

What ever happened to Obama's WHite Peoples Tax?(Tanning Tax)LOL

[halvsie]

The stupidity of the modern GOP is astounding.

[Imthaid2]

People who kill trees for decoration are idiots.

[bobnjersey]

[Heritage Foundation Vice President David Addington, who wrote about the fee on his blog on Tuesday, claimed President Obama was killing the spirit of Christmas by "taxing" a time-honored tradition, and warned that the fee could potentially raise the prices of trees - even though the National Christmas Tree Association insisted that the fee would not be passed on to consumers.]
---------------------------------------------------
david addington?

this guy is a political criminal ... guilty of executive branch abuses of the highest order ... responsible for nearly every 'presidential signing statement' during the gwb presidential terms. was cheney's chief of staff after his first chief of staff (scooter libby) went to jail for obstruction of justice.

http://www.coherentbabble.com/listGWBall.htm

and now he's all up in arms about $0.15 added cost per christmas tree?

what in the world is wrong with these people? who hires an azzhole like this ... and makes them a vice president?

[BuckeyeChuck]

If republicans where ever pledged to tell the truth we would never here from them again. In stead of a no tax pledge may a truth pledge would be good.

[billpl-2009]

stopping new taxes is one thing

but stopping taxes from people who want to pay it

...is plain stupid

[rpiny82]

-They'll be taxing toilet flushes next.

by LoadedAndDangerous November 9, 2011 5:42 PM EST

Thats something that would terrify any republican as they
are so full of sh*t anyway.

[doneinone]

no they won't.....anything black people have to pay they will think twice. ex. tanning tax

[rightbehind]

The tax would have helped local domestic growers. Conservative republicans absolutely hate the United States. They would prefer their trees come from China.