The Christmas Tree Fee Quietly Takes Root
5th April 2014
A federal regulation that took effect this week imposes a 15-cent assessment on every Christmas tree cut and sold in the U.S. or imported into the country.
The reason behind the fee: to fund a national marketing program.
These are trying times for Christmas tree growers. An industry task force on tannenbaums reported that the market share for fresh-cut Christmas trees in the U.S. declined by 6% from 1965 to 2008, while the market share for artificial trees increased by 655% in that same period.
A few years ago, the task force pleaded with the federal government for help, and this week the U.S. Department of Agriculture put a present under its tree: a regulation that creates a marketing program to match the heavy advertising the fake-tree industry does so well.
Included in the regulation, which was first published in 2011 but takes effect now, is the 15-cent assessment to pay for the program. The hold on the regulation was lifted as a result of a provision in the 900-plus-page farm bill, which President Barack Obama signed into law in February.
This is the very essence of fascism: Government imposing regulations on citizens in order to benefit a favored corporate interest.