Poop Tax
Proposed cow poop tax stinks to farmers
April 1, 2009 — There’s a ‘Cow Tax” bill floating around Washington that could affect local farmers– and for dairy and beef producers – it stinks.
Belching and gases from cow and hog manure could begin to cost farmers money if the federal government decides to charge fees for “air-polluting animals.”
But so far, local farmers are turning their noses up to the idea, of which some say could be the result of an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that greenhouse gases from motor vehicles amounts to air pollution.
And according to the Federal Food and Agriculture organization, livestock production is responsible for 18 percent of global greenhouse gases.
So, how much will each farmer have to pay?
Based on federal agriculture department figures, the tax would require farms with more than 25 dairy cattle, 50 beef cattle or 200 hogs to pay an annual fee of about $175 for each dairy cow, $87.50 per head of beef cattle and $21.87 for each hog.
In doing the math, the regulation would cost the local dairy farmers with 75 to 125 dairy cows $13,000 to $22,000 each year. And farms with 100 to 200 beef cattle would have to pay anywhere from $8,750 to $17,500 each year.
An attempt to contact Congressman Geoff Davis was made but he was not available for comment.
Although Senator Walter Blevins, D-Senate District 27, said he doesn’t see such a bill being passed.
“I would be shocked if it did,” he commented Thursday. “Those imposing this need to look closer at the consequences of what it would do. The prices of beef in the grocery stores would be outrageous and even the cost of a hamburger at McDonalds wouldn’t be affordable, not to mention the price of milk for children.”
Furthermore, Blevins said passing such a bill could force local farmers and farmers across the country out of business.
“If they go out of business, and I say most would, we would have to import all of our beef,” he said. “And in doing that we wouldn’t have an idea of what the animals are fed or know anything about their processing procedures.”
Jason Rose, owner of Rose Angus Beef Farm in Olive Hill, said such a bill would certainly put him out of business.
“It’s the most ridiculous thing the federal government has ever tried to do,” Rose said. “There is no way any farmer around here could afford it. I know I can’t. I will load mine up and take them out of here. It would be the only thing I would know to do is sell out.”
The stench might be floating around Washington, but help is on the way for the farmers. U.S. Senators John Thune, D-S.D. and Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y introduced bipartisan Senate Bill 527 in Washington March 5. The cow tax prevention bill would stop the government from imposing the tax on farmers.
“The Clean Air Act was written to curb pollution from smokestack industries, not to regulate livestock production,” said Thune in a recent press release. “Livestock producers do not need another burdensome regulation to worry about, and this legislation would ensure that the cow tax never becomes a reality. With the present economy in such shambles, it would be disastrous to enact policies that would increase food prices for all Americans. Senate Bill 527 would put an end to this insane tax once and for all,” Schumer recently reported.
Various farm groups have said the fee would apply to farms with livestock that emit more than 100 tons of carbon emissions in a year and fall under federal Clean Air Act provision.
However, John Millett, a spokesman for EPA air and radiation division, said there has been an oversimplification of the EPA’s document “to the point of distortion.”
“EPA is not proposing any type of tax on livestock,” he stated in a recent report. “The EPA briefly mentions ‘raising livestock’ in its report on ways to regulate greenhouse gases under the provisions of the Clean Air Act.”
Carter County resident and farmer David McGlone was asked about the tax and said although he understands the idea behind the bill, he doesn’t comprehend why the farmers are always the ones hit with extra costs.
“Basically it’s a tax on methane gas, not only cows and hogs but other livestock,” he commented Tuesday. “The problem I have is they always want to tax the farmer and he can’t pass on any expenses because he is the bottom seller. We sell on the stock market and take what they give us and just have to be happy about it…If we are going tax methane gas, let us tax what comes out of Washington, there is more “bull” produce there than anywhere else. And I mean methane gas, too,” he said with a laugh.
The federal government also should take into consideration that the American farmers also produce more oxygen than anyone else, McGlone said
“We sell carbon credits to companies that are polluters and then we get taxed for the methane gas our livestock produces,” he added. “Those credits are traded on the New York Stock Exchange to the polluting companies. They buy the credits and it keeps them from paying fines.”
McGlone said oxygen released by one cow grazing on grass and the land she runs on – does offset what methane gases the cow produces.
“I would be afraid to say the tax won’t be passed because I would never say never with Washington,” he added. “But wake up American, it’s cows today – maybe you tomorrow.”
A specific date of when the bill will go before Congress has not been issued.