Tax my Cow, Because she has gas!

I am pretty sure that the proposed 'cow tax' is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard proposed by our Congress. A proposed amendment to the Clean Air Act (CAA) would place a tax on producers that emit Green House Gases (GHG). The proposal is meant to protect against smokestack-style production, but the amendment includes producers of methane, which would include livestock producers.

The amendment would allow the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to require producers to buy a permit for operations of more than 50 head, based on the number of tons of GHG or methane their operation produces. That works out to an estimated $87.50 per head on beef cattle. Heck, let's just tax humans for the gas we emit after eating a pot of beans! Ain't that the same concept?

Really Congress?!? Can we really tax livestock producers for the natural gases our animals produce from the fermentation in their rumen? I am pretty sure these cattle have been doing the same thing for thousands of years, and we have bigger problems than worrying about cattle gas ruining our atmosphere.

This is just another example that we need to put more 'Common Sense' back into Washington. I am not suggesting we propose another American Revolution, but we could use someone to set our sights back in line. Thomas Paine wrote and reasoned in a style that common people understood. Washington has strayed far from that. There are so many lawmakers up there that are concerned with their political standing that the values of the American people are getting lost. Congressmen that could stand up for production Agriculture are getting lost in the crowd.

"I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense . . ." Thomas Paine said it pretty good. People that have no clue on what is going on, need to do some investigation before they lay their claim and make accusations.