SARATOGA SPRINGS - Insane, ridiculous, unbelievable - just some of the words used to describe a federal proposal to regulate greenhouse emissions by taxing dairy farms $175 per cow.
New York Farm Bureau says the fee would cost the state's struggling dairy industry $110 million per year, possibly forcing some people right out of business.
The tax, in varying amounts, would be applied to other livestock as well, including beef cattle and hogs.
"This is almost crazy," said Bill Peck, co-owner of Welcome Stock Farm in Northumberland. "Some years you try to have a profit margin of $175 per cow. Other years you lose $300. There wouldn't be any dairy farming left. I understand we're in a tight budget situation and governments are trying to come up with revenue sources.
"But we've also got to have business. If there's no business, there's no revenue."
His farm has 495 milk cows and a total of 1,000 animals. The tax, if approved, would cost him $175,000 per year.
"That's a huge amount to take right off the top," Peck said. "You'll see a mass exodus of dairy farms." The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed a permit program to regulate all types of greenhouse gases, a major contributor to global warming.
"We're getting lumped in together with cars and coal-fired power plants," Farm Bureau spokesman Peter Gregg said. "Greenhouse gases are coming from everywhere, all over the world - India, China. Other countries aren't doing something like this. We're getting taxed while our competitors aren't.
"It's insane."
Full Story: http://www.saratogian.com/articles/2008/11/30/news/doc
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