The Bill: H.R. 3395, Concrete Masonry Products Research, Education, and Promotion Act of 2011
Annualized Cost: see comment* “No Cost” — Regulation

News reports that the Obama administration was allegedly advancing a 15-cent federal tax on Christmas trees generated a significant amount of online buzz earlier this month. Further investigation showed that the tax was actually sought by the Christmas tree industry itself through a regulatory process established by Republican lawmakers in the 104th Congress.
The Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 permitted producers of agricultural commodities such as beef, pork, or popcorn to create what are known as research and promotion programs, or “checkoffs.” These are analogous to unions: producers pay “dues” to the checkoff which works to fund research and advertising efforts on behalf of the industry represented. Board members are appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture who also has authority to enforce dues-payment. Because the dues are government-coerced, they are essentially taxes passed on to consumers.
There are currently 18 checkoff programs. And while the Obama administration quickly stopped the Christmas tree tax checkoff program from going into effect, there are still other agricultural commodity groups, such as the hardwood lumber industry, pushing for their own checkoff. There are also efforts to allow the creation of non-agricultural commodity checkoffs.
Congressman John Shimkus (R-IL) introduced H.R. 3395 to create the Concrete Masonry Products Board to promote and market concrete products. The Board would be made up of representatives of the concrete industry appointed by the Secretary of Commerce. Producers and importers of concrete masonry would initially be assessed $0.01 per concrete masonry unit sold in the United States. The Board will have authority to change the assessment rate, but it can be no higher than $0.05 per unit. The Secretary of Commerce would have authority to levy late-payment and interest charges on those producers who fail to remit an assessment.
The bill would not affect federal spending. *[are they kidding? it will affect everyone by imposing new fees, taxes and regulartion on anyone who builds anything using concrete.]

To learn more or discuss this bill visit WashingtonWatch.com.