By Selwyn Duke

Many of us have long known that the climate-change con is largely driven by a desire to exert further control over our lives and extract more money from us.  But a tax on cow flatulence?   Believe it or not, such a thing could become a reality if a new permit program proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency becomes a reality.  It's all part of an effort to reduce "carbon emissions" (I'd like to reduce liberal ones), and the cost would be steep.  As the New York Farm Bureau (NYFB) tells us:

"The tax for dairy cows could be $175 per cow, and $87.50 per head of beef cattle. The tax on hogs would upwards of $20 per hog. Any operation with more than 25 dairy cows, 50 beef cattle or 200 hogs would have to obtain permits."

It has been estimated that this proposal would raise the price of a gallon of milk approximately 8 cents, and it would of course increase the cost of beef, pork and other products derived from such livestock as well. 

And what would be the purpose of such a tax?  Are we to kowtow to the odious P.E.T.A. and radically alter our diet?  Are we all to become pale-faced vegans? 

It should also be pointed out that this tax could very well drive some mom-and-pop dairy farms out of business, as they often cannot shoulder an increased cost of doing business as easily as huge corporate dairy operations can.

Moreover, there could be an even more ominous consequence of this outrageous statist intrusion.  As NYFB president John Lincoln said:

Now, given that Chinese milk products have been found to sometimes contain melamine — the toxic chemical that was recently responsible for sickening about 54,000 babies and killing 4 worldwide and the deaths of over 8,500 pets — should we be inviting such a possibility?

At the end of the day, my guess is that livestock producers and dairy farmers will receive an exemption from the permit requirement.  Nevertheless, the fact that such a thing could even be part of any proposal is a testimonial as to the perils of leftist government. 

It's also a great example of the kind of bad policy bred by agenda-driven reportage.  When the media disseminate misinformation, the people draw the wrong conclusions, elect the wrong politicians, support the wrong policies and end up being wronged.  Of course, it wouldn't be a problem if they didn't support the wrong media in the first place.

                  © 2008 Selwyn Duke — All Rights Reserved