EPA Weighs Farting Cow Tax

[johngaltfla]

Yes, this is legit...it from www.cbsatlanta.com; this story should give one perspective of just how far down we are about to fall as a society. - JG

EPA Weighs Farting Cow Tax

EPA Proposing Tax On Farting Livestock

POSTED: 4:39 pm EDT June 11, 2009
UPDATED: 5:33 pm EDT June 12, 2009
MORGAN COUNTY, Ga. -- Imagine being taxed on the amount of gas that you pass.

The Environmental Protection Agency doesn't want to tax you, but it does want to levy a tax on the amount of gas livestock produce.

Carol Williams and her husband Everett have about 1,200 cows at their Morgan County farm.

Those cows pass a lot of gas.

“I think there's been some studies done. Don't remember the figures. said Everett Williams.

I mean some of these girls are pretty good size girls,” Carol Williams.

The methane gas released by livestock affects the atmosphere.

The EPA's idea is to tax each dairy cow $175 a year and each beef cow $80 for the pleasure.

The cows won't pay, but the Williams will.

“About $150,000 a year. Basically it would put me out of business,” said Everett Williams.

What's worse is milk prices tanked this year. Farmers are getting about half of what they got paid last year.

“I feel they are picking on the farmers,” said Carol Williams.

The Williams’ do their share to help the environment. They grow their own feed and recycle the water and the manure.

If the EPA imposes a tax, the cows will need Gas-X.

“I don't think it would [do any good]. [It’s] not industrial strength,” said Everett Williams.

[Master Shake]

Re: EPA Weighs Farting Cow Tax

Total insanity.

[Munger]

Re: EPA Weighs Farting Cow Tax

Total insanity.

One should be allowed to pass off all externalities to third parties without compensation. Wonderful idea, that.

[WDCRob]

Re: EPA Weighs Farting Cow Tax

Beat me to it Munger.

This tax should be a Libertarian wet dream since the people creating a problem and benefiting from it financially are the ones being asked to bear the cost.

[Techdread]

Re: EPA Weighs Farting Cow Tax

The farmers should collect the gas and sell it.

Attaching a balloon to their rear ends would do the trick.;)

[FRED]

Re: EPA Weighs Farting Cow Tax

Beat me to it Munger.

This tax should be a Libertarian wet dream since the people creating a problem and benefiting from it financially are the ones being asked to bear the cost.

A question we'd ask is whether the tax is proportionate the social cost?

Source: DOE

[WDCRob]

Re: EPA Weighs Farting Cow Tax

Good question Fred. Whether the farmers are being taxed 'fairly' for the damage or not, there are a lot of other folks who aren't paying their way. I'm sure the many Libertarians here agree that they should be taxed to recover the cost of the damage they impose too.

Any idea on the answer to the actual cost of the methane generated by a cow?

[dummass]

Re: EPA Weighs Farting Cow Tax

A question we'd ask is whether the tax is proportionate the social cost?

Source: DOE

So... it's a non-issue, unless you are looking for revenue!

[johngaltfla]

Re: EPA Weighs Farting Cow Tax

Good question Fred. Whether the farmers are being taxed 'fairly' for the damage or not, there are a lot of other folks who aren't paying their way. I'm sure the many Libertarians here agree that they should be taxed to recover the cost of the damage they impose too.

Any idea on the answer to the actual cost of the methane generated by a cow?

Actually the level is irrelevant. As a "Libertarian" I think the taxation system is patently absurd and anyone who believes in "global warming" just has a wet dream fantasy for the evolution of Karl Marx's ideal world to be imposed at the tip of a bayonet.

The entire idea is absurd as is the lunacy of the global warming/climate change crowd.

Perhaps when Obama and this ilk realizes that the taxation levels they are desiring to see not only cripple but permanently destroy the desire to innovate under the flag of Capitalist ideals, then and only then will they understand why I like to say "it is time to shrug and let the leeches feed off each other."

Because this will not end well on the course we are on. Not well at all for the politically ignorant or the sheep that endorse such foolishness.

[WDCRob]

Re: EPA Weighs Farting Cow Tax

A few more bits of info to put Fred's numbers in context:

Decomposing manure produces methane -- a greenhouse gas that, ton for ton, is 21 times more damaging to the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, scientists say.

Methane accounts for 16% of global greenhouse-gas emissions, according to the International Energy Agency. That is far less than the most prevalent greenhouse gas, CO2, which accounts for 75% of the global total. But methane is an attractive early target because it generates a big environmental bang for the buck. The methane produced by the manure of a typical 1,330-pound cow translates into about five tons of CO2 per year. That is about the same amount generated annually by a typical U.S. car, one getting 20 miles per gallon and traveling 12,000 miles per year.

[WDCRob]

Re: EPA Weighs Farting Cow Tax

Actually the level is irrelevant. As a "Libertarian" I think the taxation system is patently absurd and anyone who believes in "global warming" just has a wet dream fantasy for the evolution of Karl Marx's ideal world to be imposed at the tip of a bayonet.

The entire idea is absurd as is the lunacy of the global warming/climate change crowd.

Yes. This is the 'Libertarian' argument I was commenting on originally. It's not 'Libertarian' at all. It's sociopathic.

[sn1p3r]

Re: EPA Weighs Farting Cow Tax

General rhetorical question...why is the answer to a 'problem' usually a tax?

...I think we all know the answer.

[Munger]

Re: EPA Weighs Farting Cow Tax

General rhetorical question...why is the answer to a 'problem' usually a tax?

...I think we all know the answer.

It is easier and more efficient to discourage something through taxation than through regulation. It is fair to require the entity that benefits from emitting a pollutant to compensate third parties who bear the cost of the pollutant.

[Munger]

Re: EPA Weighs Farting Cow Tax

The farmers should collect the gas and sell it.

Attaching a balloon to their rear ends would do the trick.;)

Ali G with Ralph Nader - watch more funny videos

[FRED]

Re: EPA Weighs Farting Cow Tax

It is easier and more efficient to discourage something through taxation than through regulation. It is fair to require the entity that benefits from emitting a pollutant to compensate third parties who bear the cost of the pollutant.

See also: Credit Risk Pollution