Obama Administration to delay Christmas tree tax: ABC News

The Department of Agriculture is going to delay implementation of the 15 cent fee they announced on fresh-cut Christmas trees, sources told ABC News.  

The fee, which was requested by the National Christmas Tree Association in 2009, was announced yesterday.  

The initiative was pegged as a industry-funded Christmas tree promotion program, has come under fire by conservative opponents of President Obama. 

By taxing themselves, growers would raise $2 million a year for ads promoting merits trees that were once living instead of artificial trees, USA Today reported. 

"As demographics and buying habits have changed, we have watched the market for real trees shrink drastically, requiring us to spend much more time and money on promotion," Don Cameron, a former president of the California Christmas Tree Association. 

The Chicago Tribune reported:

"We have good reason to believe it will be successful for our industry," Betty Malone, an Oregon tree farmer and president of Christmas Tree Promotion Now, said in a telephone interview Tuesday. "We looked at what other industries have done, and how successful they've been."

However, the tax gained much criticism from conservatives opposed to Obama's taxes. 

"The economy is barely growing and nine percent of the American people have no jobs," writes David S. Addington, a former top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney who is now with the Heritage Foundation. "Is a new tax on Christmas trees the best President Obama can do?"

Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La) vowed to fight what he described as a "Grinch" move by the administration.

"It is shocking that President Obama tried to sneak through this new tax on Christmas trees," Scalise said in a statement Wednesday, Fox News reported.  

However, Agriculture Department spokesman Michael T. Jarvis defended the program, which is similar to 20 other promtional programs supported by the Department of Agriculture, like the "got milk" campaign.  

"It's worked great for beef, pork, chicken, eggs," Jarvis said, Fox News reported.   

Jarvis also insisted the fee was not a tax, since the industry is effectively "assessing themselves." 

The fee was not expected to affect consumers, and most growers who weighed in on the proposal were in favor of it.