Obama is going to tax gardens.

[TNDemo]

That is what my husband's coworker told him yesterday. She is not from this country originally but has apparently swallowed the right wing koolaid. He started to argue with her but then decided it was futile and wondered where she got her information. So I guess that would be an easy thing - scouting every yard in America to see if you were growing something and taxing it.

[Kerrytravelers]

1. What if I don't have a yard garden, but I grow plants on my balcony?

So many questions... maybe Fox News can tell me the answers.




:crazy:

[golddigger]

3. It will become mandatory for

everyone to have a yard garden.

[ejpoeta]

11. yeah, and then tax them for it. :) it would be asier to tax them if you

force them to have one. now how do you determine that tax? everyone has different sized gardens. some may just have tomatoes and strawberries. we have green peppers, tomatoes, onions, strawberries, blueberries. and do fruit trees count? we have a few of those. and we tried growing some celery and other stuff but unsuccessfully. do you get charged tax by yield or how much you attempted to grow?

[polmaven]

19. Patio plants are called

"container" gardens, so I guess you're no gonna be able to get out THAT way!

[mike r]

2. Obama is going to install a pedometer on her

and literally tax her by the foot.
:sarcasm:

[EstimatedProphet]

4. Yes. Of course he is.

He's going to tax belts, too. Everybody, fight back against the government! LET YOUR PANTS FALL DOWN!

[redwitch]

25. we'll be lookin' like fools

with our pants on the ground!

[Renew Deal]

5. He's also going to tax mac and cheese

Mac is fine and cheese is fine, but once it's combined, $$$$ for Uncle Sam. :9

[sandnsea]

6. Oh, that's why seniors will have to eat cat food

I totally get it now.

[Vickers]

7. I heard he's going to force us to grow marijuana in our gardens. n/t

[AnArmyVeteran]

8. Will I be taxed for each square foot of lawn or on each blade of grass?

Just wondering. The right wing can say anything because they know the people who listen to them are STUPID!!!

On the bright side of this tax plan: It will lead to full employment because it would take tens of millions of people to inspect every square foot of land in the US for plants!

[Fumesucker]

9. In my neck of the woods they send helicopters around to make sure you aren't gardening..

At least not gardening certain unapproved herbs.

And the "small government conservatives" vote for it every single time.

Hypocrites to a man (and woman).

[Curmudgeoness]

10. I suppose the only argument to something like this is

to wait and see if it happens. And keep reminding this person that it has not happened yet.

I also have to wonder where she got this.

[Radical Activist]

12. Some people will believe anything bad they hear/read about Obama.

That isn't limited to conservatives either.

[Scurrilous]

14. Indeed. n/t

[fasttense]

13. I found a similar claim on Western North Carolina The Mountain Region including Asheville board.

"NC Garden Tax?????

Is this true what I am hearing that in Asheville they are going to charge a garden tax if you plant a garden? I would be outraged if I were a person with a garden. Hell, I am outraged and I don't even have a garden.

Somebody please write Obama that knows the details. I am sure he would have a hay-day over this one.

I know Asheville is a high Republican area but Obama is outraged at things like this."

First off Asheville is NOT a RepubliCON area. It is a liberal oasis in the middle of a red state.

And 2nd, she's claiming that Obama would oppose it.

So, the woman in your husband's office is really nuts.

[Demit]

15. This might be the source of her seriously garbled idea: FDA Food Safety Modernization Act

the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (S 510) is proposed legislation that hasn't yet come up for a vote.

Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA)...has been working on a bipartisan basis with Mike Enzi (R-WY), Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Judd Gregg (R-NH) and lead cosponsors Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Richard Burr (R-NC) on the proposal.

Highlights of the package:

Requires facilities that manufacture, process, pack or hold food to have in place risk-based preventive control plans to address identified hazards and prevent adulteration. BUT: These requirements do not apply to restaurants or most farms.

Provides training for facilities to come into compliance with new safety requirements and includes special accommodations for small businesses and farms. BUT: It does not interfere with current organic farming practices and does not change the current definition of farm. Any farm that is not currently required to register with FDA will not be required to do so under this legislation.

Increased FDA Resources: Increases funding for FDA’s food safety activities through increased appropriations and targeted fees for food facility reinspection, food recalls, and the voluntary qualified importer program.



Last year, there was some blog talk about the (same? a similar House proposal?) proposal that also might be the origin of the woman's jumping to conclusions about home gardens:



MYTH: H.R. 875 would mean a "goodbye to farmers markets" because the bill would "require such a burdensome complexity of rules, inspections, licensing, fees, and penalties for each farmer who wishes to sell locally - a fruit stand, at a farmers market."

FACT: There is no language in the bill that would result in farmers markets being regulated, penalized any fines, or shut down. Farmers markets would be able to continue to flourish under the bill. In fact, the bill would insist that imported foods meet strict safety standards to ensure that unsafe imported foods are not competing with locally-grown foods.

MYTH: H.R. 875 would result in the "death of organic farming."

FACT: There is no language in the bill that would stop organic farming. The National Organic Program is under the jurisdiction of the USDA. The Food Safety Modernization Act only addresses food safety issues under the jurisdiction of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

—thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/blogs/healthy-food/organic-farming-440320604+congress+bill+tax+gardens&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

[Posteritatis]

16. The recent Canadian equivalent of that had some pretty hilarious overreactions. (nt)

[Demit]

20. Oh man, you're right. That Canadian doctor who testified during the HCR debate, look what he says:

“If accepted would preclude the public’s right to grow, own, trade, transport, share, feed and eat each and every food that nature makes. It will become the most offensive authority against the cultivation, trade and consumption of food and agricultural products of one’s choice. It will be unconstitutional and contrary to natural law or, if you like, the will of God.” ~Dr. Shiv Chopra, Canada Health whistleblower

http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/2010/04/24/s-510-is-hissing-in-the-grass/


That link shows the crazy suppositions people are all too ready to make. Go see how this bill would lead to ending US sovereignty over its own food supply! And remove fundamental constitutional protections from all citizens in the country!! And threaten national security!!!!

This really strains my natural desire to be tolerant. Some people really are too stupid to live.



Edited to say I have no idea why my text is ruled out like that.

Or that.

[Posteritatis]

24. Yeah, lots of my friends were convinced it would outlaw "herbs" or recipe-sharing. (nt)

[Bozita]

17. When they come to tax crabgrass, only scofflaws will grow it!

[Hawkowl]

18. Are you fucking stupid?

When it is obvious to me that I can't argue reason with people like this, I just resort to a sort of verbal hammer. It seems to work a lot of the time. I think it is because that is what they are used to by way of Faux News, Limpballs, etc.

In other words, the levers are already installed in these people, you simply have to pull them. Reason, logic, critical thinking--these are much more complicated levers and you simply can't build them in a few minute conversation.

[Quantess]

21. Was this person developmentally disabled?

Mentally retarded, perhaps?

[guitar man]

22. How I'd handle that

Playing devil's advocate is my favorite way to suck them in:

"Really? He's going to tax gardens? Damn him, I can't stand that guy!

Hey, btw, since you seem to know all about this stuff, do you know what the IRS form number is? I have a really big garden and had better get out in front of this. Don't know the form number eh, well then, do you know when it's supposed go into effect? Don't know that either, eh....well, let me ask you this then, do you have ANY idea of what you're talking about or are you just running around making stupid shit up?!!"

;)

[Steely_Dan]

23. Yeah...I heard About That...

What's worse...

Even if you don't have a garden, you will be forced to pay a mandatory "Garden Fee." (*sarcasm*)

-P

[mstinamotorcity]

26. Did you hear the one

that he was going to tax toilet paper uses and flushes. Will that be one square or two. One flush or two. That will be fifty cents:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: Tell her that one and see what her reaction is. Stop arguing and have some fun.This could be hilarious:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Tommy_Carcetti]

27. My Mother-in-Law claimed he was going to implement a real estate sales tax.

And my brother-in-law's impressionable wife bought it all up.

Basically, it was from this chain email that Snopes debunked:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/taxes/realestate.asp

So, the only way I actually get "taxed" is if I sell the house that my wife and I bought for at least $500,000 profit, and I'd pay 3.8% of that profit as a capital gains tax.

Which if the value of my home increases $500,000 (i.e. more than doubles in value) and I sell it, I will gladly dance to the IRS office and pay that 3.8% tax myself because I would be a very happy man.


These scare stories remind me of this Doonesbury toon:

[shireen]

28. i do a lot of indoor gardening, under lights, in my apartment.

Will he tax my African violets, moss collection, and ferns? And my planted aquariums?

:P