The Obama administration is delaying implementation of a new Christmas tree tax that has provoked conservative fury. 
 
 A White House spokesman said the U.S. Department of Agriculture would revisit the issue after several Republican lawmakers criticized the proposed 15-cent-per-tree tax, which would have been paid by producers and importers of Christmas trees. 
 
 The White House also pushed back at the idea it was proposing a Christmas tree tax. 
 
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 “I can tell you unequivocally that the Obama administration is not taxing Christmas trees,” said White House spokesman Matt Lehrich in a statement. 
 
 “What's being talked about here is an industry group deciding to impose fees on itself to fund a promotional campaign, similar to how the dairy producers have created the ‘Got Milk?’ campaign," Lehrich said. "That said, USDA is going to delay implementation and revisit this action.” 
 
 
 
 The USDA on Tuesday established a national Christmas Tree Promotion Board that requires producers and importers of fresh-cut Christmas trees selling more than 500 trees per year to pay an assessment of 15 cents per tree as part of an initiative to improve the marketing of fresh Christmas trees. 
 
 Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) lambasted the idea earlier in the day as a "taxpayer-subsidized improvement" and "marketing slush fund for the Christmas tree industry." DeMint and other Republicans denied that the government should collect money for any industry to market its product. DeMint pledged he would work to repeal the Christmas tree fee as the “single stupidest tax of all time.” 
 
 The Christmas Tree Promotion, Research, and Information Order is authorized under the Commodity Promotion, Research and Information Act of 1996, which also authorized the “Got Milk” and “Beef: It’s What’s for Dinner” campaigns. Both programs stirred previous controversy within the industries by those who objected to mandatory fees funding the campaign. 
 
 The National Christmas Tree Association, an organization of fresh-cut Christmas tree professionals, defended the program on Wednesday in a statement, claiming the majority of the industry favors funding the program. 
 
 — Sam Youngman contributed. ||||| Obama Couldn't Wait: His New Christmas Tree Tax 
 
 President Obama’s Agriculture Department today announced that it will impose a new 15-cent charge on all fresh Christmas trees—the Christmas Tree Tax—to support a new Federal program to improve the image and marketing of Christmas trees. 
 
 In the Federal Register of November 8, 2011, Acting Administrator of Agricultural Marketing David R. Shipman announced that the Secretary of Agriculture will appoint a Christmas Tree Promotion Board. The purpose of the Board is to run a “program of promotion, research, evaluation, and information designed to strengthen the Christmas tree industry’s position in the marketplace; maintain and expend existing markets for Christmas trees; and to carry out programs, plans, and projects designed to provide maximum benefits to the Christmas tree industry” (7 CFR 1214.46(n)). And the program of “information” is to include efforts to “enhance the image of Christmas trees and the Christmas tree industry in the United States” (7 CFR 1214.10). 
 
 To pay for the new Federal Christmas tree image improvement and marketing program, the Department of Agriculture imposed a 15-cent fee on all sales of fresh Christmas trees by sellers of more than 500 trees per year (7 CFR 1214.52). And, of course, the Christmas tree sellers are free to pass along the 15-cent Federal fee to consumers who buy their Christmas trees. 
 
 Acting Administrator Shipman had the temerity to say the 15-cent mandatory Christmas tree fee “is not a tax nor does it yield revenue for the Federal government” (76 CFR 69102). The Federal government mandates that the Christmas tree sellers pay the 15-cents per tree, whether they want to or not. The Federal government directs that the revenue generated by the 15-cent fee goes to the Board appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out the Christmas tree program established by the Secretary of Agriculture. Mr. President, that’s a new 15-cent tax to pay for a Federal program to improve the image and marketing of Christmas trees. 
 
 Nobody is saying President Obama doesn’t have authority to impose his new Christmas Tree Tax — his Administration cites the Commodity Promotion, Research and Information Act of 1996. Just because the Obama Administration has the legal power to impose its Christmas Tree Tax doesn’t mean it should do so. 
 
 The economy is barely growing and nine percent of the American people have no jobs. Is a new tax on Christmas trees the best President Obama can do? 
 
 And, by the way, the American Christmas tree has a great image that doesn’t need any help from the government. 
 
 UPDATE: The Obama Administration has announced that they will be delaying implementation of this new program. Click here to read the latest.
– In a move that both Santa and Scrooge would probably have an opinion about, the US Agriculture Department yesterday OKed a Christmas tree "tax." The 15-cent fee (which the USDA is calling a charge, not a tax) will be imposed on American growers and importers, and is expected to raise $2 million annually—which will then be used to fund an ad campaign pushing real, live trees over marketshare-grabbing fake ones. Sales of freshly cut trees have sunk from 37 million in 1991 to 31 million in 2007; in that year, 17.4 million artificial trees were sold. But some of the country's 12,000 tree farms aren't pleased with the Christmas Tree Promotion, Research, and Information Order: McClatchy/Tribune News notes that Texas and Vermont growers were opposed. Some of the country's citizens (and media outlets) aren't too pleased either, reports Gawker, which notes that the Drudge Report's top story is OBAMA'S NEW 'CHRISTMAS TREE TAX.' At MichelleMalkin.com, Doug Powers predicts that the charge will be passed on to consumers and quips, "Look for a 'cash for artificial tree clunkers' program to be introduced by next Christmas to get the faux alternatives off the streets." David Addington at the Heritage blog is particularly incensed: "The economy is barely growing and 9% of the American people have no jobs. Is a new tax on Christmas trees the best President Obama can do?" Gawker notes that the tax was first discussed at the USDA at the end of George W Bush's second term.