Obama's New Christmas Tree Tax

President Obama’s Agriculture Department today announced that it will impose a new 15-cent charge on all fresh Christmas trees—the Christmas Tree Tax—to support a new Federal program to improve the image and marketing of Christmas trees.

First let me say, I have never been a proponent of the Christmas tree.(I have resisted this pagan practice for years.) That’s not to say we don’t have one.  My wife’s strings lights all over the house, sets up little porcelain villages,  decorates the Christmas tree with a variety of ornaments made by grandchildren, some given to us by friends and some she has purchased and some she found at garage sales, to the point it is hardly resemble a tree at all.   Before I get side tracked let me get back to Obama’s Christmas tree tax.

The total number of Christmas tree sold in the United State each year is from 30-35 million.      (  National Christmas Tree Association, USDA Census of Agriculture)  That means the tax will raise about $5,250,000 each year.  If Obama is looking to improve the image of the Christmas tree he’s not going to do much for its image with that amount of money.    

I just happen to have a BA in Communication-- heavy on the Television production.  I have even taught television production at a local university.  So I have a little background in producing a TV ad.  It has been estimated that the average cost of producing a 30-second national TV commercial is nearly $350,000.  If you were to run that 30 second ad to get the most viewing audience you might want to run it during say a Super Bowl event.  Reuters has confirmed that the 2011 Super Bowl commercials cost around $3 million dollars for a 30 second spot.  That does not include the costs and fees for actors, equipment, ad agencies, directors, crew and other personnel.  It looks like Mr. Obama needs to raise the Christmas tree tax to at least $1.00 per tree if he is really going to improve its image.

There are 21,000 Christmas tree growers in the United States who would receive about $250 each to help them improve the image of the Christmas tree.  But wait!  There is more to this story.  There will be a Christmas Tree Promotion Board established by the Secretary of Agriculture.  The purpose of this board is run a “program of promotion, research, evaluation, and information designed to strengthen the Christmas tree industry’s position in the marketplace; maintain and expand existing markets for Christmas trees; and to carry out programs, plans, and projects designed to provide maximum benefits to the Christmas tree industry” (7 CFR 1214.46(n)).  And the program of “information” is to include efforts to “enhance the image of Christmas trees and the Christmas tree industry in the United States” (7 CFR 1214.10).

Whoops! I guess the $5.25 million will not be used for advertising nor will the 21,000 grower get a portion of the collected money.  The Federal government directs that the revenue generated by the 15-cent fee goes to the Board appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out the Christmas tree program established by the Secretary of Agriculture.

I wonder if this will be like the Popcorn Board?  Yes, I said Popcorn Board.   The Agriculture Secretary appointed two members to serve on the Popcorn Board. They will serve a three-year term of office beginning Jan. 1, 2012 and ending Dec. 31, 2014.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) provides oversight of the board in accordance with the Popcorn Promotion.

Wow!  Is this how Obama is going to create jobs along with helping the image of the Christmas tree?  I don’t know but I am concerned with the image of the Christmas tree.  Let me share some facts with you that may help with the image of the Christmas tree.  These facts came from Mr. Obama’s home state-- http://urbanext.illinois.edu/trees/facts.cfm

• Christmas trees have been sold commercially in the United States since about 1850.
• The first decorated Christmas tree was in Riga, Latvia in 1510.
• Growing Christmas trees provides a habitat for wildlife. (Does this mean we might not be able to cut them down in the near future--environmental reasons.)
• Recycled trees have been used to make sand and soil erosion barriers and been placed in ponds for fish shelter.
• The first Christmas tree retail lot in the United States was started in 1851 in New York by Mark Carr.
• Christmas trees take an average of 7-10 years to mature.
• Christmas trees remove dust and pollen from the air. (Another environmental reason not to cut down Christmas trees—this way we don’t have to regulate dust.)
• 100,000 people are employed in the Christmas tree industry. (This might be used by Obama as the number of " jobs saved" because of the Christmas tree tax, I mean fee.)
• In 2002, 21% of United States households had a real tree, 48% had an artificial tree and 32% had not tree. (I would prefer to be in the 32% but my wife will never agree.)
• 73 million new Christmas trees will be planted this year. (This will change the carbon footprint for many “World Destroyers like yours truly.)
• There are over 500 Christmas tree growers in Illinois. (Why would this catch my attention?)
• Teddy Roosevelt banned the Christmas tree from the White House for environmental reasons. (I hope Mr. Obama does not read this fact or there will be no real Christmas trees because of environment reasons.)
• In the first week, a tree in your home will consume as much as a quart of water per day. (With water becoming as precious as oil this is a major drain on our water supply.  It would be around 227 million gallons of water to take care of all the real Christmas trees.)
• Real Christmas trees are involved in less than one-tenth of one percent of residential fires and only when ignited by some external ignition sources.
• In 1998 more than 32 million Real Christmas Trees were used in the U.S. Of these, only 0.00093% were ignited in home fires.
• 93% of real Christmas tree consumers recycle their tree in community recycling programs, their garden or backyard.
• In the United States, there are more than 4,000 Christmas tree recycling programs.
• In 2007, 23% of real Christmas trees sold were from chain stores, 9% by non-profit groups. 12% from retail lots and 21% from choose and cut farms.
• In 2007 the retail market value of the 31.3 million trees purchased at the mean average purchase price of $41.50 was $1.3 billion..
• The first printed reference to Christmas trees appeared in Germany in 1531.

I guess I have done my 15 cents worth of changing the image of the Christmas tree.