Halloween Jack-O’-Lanterns Tax … Is Pumpkin a Food?

Think we have a government with just a bit too much time on their hands? How misguided can we possible be? In Iowa they seem to be more concerned with taxing pumpkins than dealing with illegal immigration. Oh sorry, Mexican nationals.  

Wait until Sally and Linus get their pumpkin tax bill. Some times one just has to scratch their head and say WTF! So what does the Iowa Department of Revenue have, a “Pumpkin Revenue” Enforcement Officer? Will this individual be dressed up like the “Great Pumpkin” and hide in pumpkin patches waiting to pounce on unsuspecting farmers? As Blue Crab Boulevard so well states, this is “one of the most blatant squeeze the peasants move by a state bureaucracy that I have ever seen.”

Do our bureaucratic officials really have nothing better than to sit around and dream this crap up? Who sits in that board meeting and says, “I have a great idea to pad the coffers, let’s tax pumpkins?” We actually pay these people’s salaries to do this?

DES MOINES, Iowa – The Iowa Department of Revenue is taxing jack-o’-lanterns this Halloween. The new department policy was implemented after officials decided that pumpkins are used primarily for Halloween decorations, not food, and should be taxed, said Renee Mulvey, the department’s spokeswoman.

“We made the change because we wanted the sales tax law to match what we thought the predominant use was,” Mulvey said. “We thought the predominant use was for decorations or jack-o’-lanterns.”

Previously, pumpkins had been considered an edible squash and exempted from the tax. The department ruled this year that pumpkins are taxable — with some exceptions — if they are advertised for use as jack-’o-lanterns or decorations.

Iowans planning to eat pumpkins can still get a tax exemption if they fill out a form. (Yahoo News)

First we had smashing pumpkins and now we have “Taxing Pumpkins”.

No trick and no treat: Iowa begins taxing pumpkins