Iowa Slaps on Pumpkin Tax, Eyes Trick-or-Treaters' Untaxed Bounty

You weren't going to eat those, were you?

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.

I think they're misguided. I've carved one pumpkin in about the last ten years. But I eat as much of the delicious gourd as I possibly can while it's still in season. In fact, I say fall hasn't officially arrived until Dunkin' Donuts unveils its exquisite, limited-time-only "pumpkin spice" variety of fried doughy goodness.

Comments

thoreau | October 31, 2007, 1:04pm | #

In fact, I say fall hasn't officially arrived until Dunkin' Donuts unveils its exquisite, limited-time-only "pumpkin spice" variety of fried doughy goodness.

Radley, you're just BEGGING them to slap a fat tax on it when you say stuff like that. Keep your mouth shut! And if you have trouble keeping your mouth shut about this, chew on a doughnut.

smartass sob | October 31, 2007, 1:05pm | #

"We made the change because we wanted the sales tax law to match what we thought the predominant use was," Mulvey said.

They made the change because they wanted the extra money - who in hell do they think they're kidding?

NeonCat | October 31, 2007, 1:06pm | #

Exquisite and sublime, I'd say, and me a loyal Krispy Kreme fan!

To quote Mahatmaguru Homer Simpson, "Ummmm, doughnuts."

diakron | October 31, 2007, 1:08pm | #

Here's my personal favorite pumpkin-based consumable good.

Thomas Paine's Goiter | October 31, 2007, 1:09pm | #

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

^&%$*&&*()&

What is wrong with people? Remind me that when I take over that Renee Mulvey should be held down and tazed until she shits her pants.

Warty | October 31, 2007, 1:10pm | #

You have not lived until you've had Momma Warty's (she has no warts) homemade pumpkin pie. The secret ingredient? Bacon.

Bronwyn | October 31, 2007, 1:22pm | #

I am so fucking glad I left that shithole.

Iowa is absolutely the armpit of America.

Episiarch | October 31, 2007, 1:22pm | #

Ichabod Crane is behind this.

Bee | October 31, 2007, 1:24pm | #

People wait all year for my pumpkin pies made from pumpkin. It's a pain in the ass, but they taste like real food.

Then, they begin hinting that it's about time for me to whip up a batch of my great-aunt's artery-clogging, inflammable eggnog. Which is so potent that I tremble lest I am pulled over while transporting it.

Taxing pumpkins instead of treating them as food is contemptible money-grubbing.

Tsu Dho Nihm | October 31, 2007, 1:25pm | #

I second the Punkin Ale comment. That is one delicious beer.

Aresen | October 31, 2007, 1:27pm | #

Episiarch | October 31, 2007, 1:22pm | #

Ichabod Crane is behind this.

I have a horse, and this might just cause me to lose my head....

Warren | October 31, 2007, 1:30pm | #

I have a batch of Pumpkin Ale fermenting right now. Goes in the bottle Saturday. Should be just starting to peak right about Turkey Day.

M | October 31, 2007, 1:33pm | #

If you promise to eat the cigarettes you buy, do you get a tax break?

jimmydageek | October 31, 2007, 1:36pm | #

"We made the change because we wanted the sales tax law to match what we thought the predominant use was,"

I can imagine how this was said...

"...we wanted the sales tax..." Pause "...to match..."

Yeeman | October 31, 2007, 1:36pm | #

Iowa suks! They should make some real money and tax churches the "income" they earn from the "donations"

J sub D | October 31, 2007, 1:40pm | #

The new department policy was implemented after officials decided that pumpkins are used primarily for Halloween decorations, not food, and should be taxed,

The sruirrels in my neck of the woods vehemently disagree. They consider carved, even painted pumpkins quite a feast. Why don't Iowans think about the squirrel children?!

PIN 556616 | October 31, 2007, 1:42pm | #

I just bought a box of macaroni so my kids can glue them onto paper and make pretty designs. Should I go back to the grocery store and pay the sales tax because I'm not intending to eat the macaroni?

Circus Freak | October 31, 2007, 1:49pm | #

I enjoy eating light bulbs. Can I fill out a special form for that?

asd | October 31, 2007, 1:54pm | #

PIN 55616: Yes. You definitely should pay that sales tax. You're defrauding the government if you don't.

While we're at it, if you use beans to weigh down a pie crust--food or baking accessory? Rice in the salt shaker or at a wedding? Baking soda in the 'fridge? Bread bowl you don't finish eating? Popcorn at Christmas? Flour left on counter after rolling dough? Peels of vegetables and fruit? Etc, etc...

Besides, even when my mother would buy a pumpkin to make a jack-o-lantern (her primary purpose), she would still make her delightful pumpkin dessert bars and toasted pumpkin seeds.

I also love pumpkin ale.

smartass sob | October 31, 2007, 1:55pm | #

When I was a kid we used to make paste out of flower and water. I guess we should have paid a tax on the flour, because we didn't eat it.

Pro Libertate | October 31, 2007, 1:56pm | #

Don't forget roasted pumpkin seeds, which are incredibly good for you.

smartass sob | October 31, 2007, 1:57pm | #

Why don't Iowans think about the squirrel children?!

Look like bushy-tailed rats to me! :-)

J sub D | October 31, 2007, 2:19pm | #

Look like bushy-tailed rats to me!

But they're CUTE bushy tailed rats. Cuteness overrides multiple sins. Even being in the oreder Rodentia. It's a fact! Look it up.

sixstring | October 31, 2007, 2:24pm | #

Oh, this is rich. My guess is that Renee's got her eye on all that untaxed and subsidized corn that will not be consumed but instead used for Ethanol production. Pumpkins are just the warm-up act.

bigbigslacker | October 31, 2007, 2:27pm | #

Warren, care to post the recipe on the ale? Or would you have to kill us?

dbust1 | October 31, 2007, 2:53pm | #

Yeah, Warren post it!

VM | October 31, 2007, 3:05pm | #

Yeah, Warren!

and never, ever call it "Turkey Day" again.

CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED

:)

J sub D | October 31, 2007, 3:07pm | #

Mr Moose, That was EVIL! Just for that, you are going to DIE!

VM | October 31, 2007, 3:14pm | #

I am, after all, Minion of URKOBOLD, so "consider yourself warned" could be anything from that, above to this hot chick

hrumph.

smartass sob | October 31, 2007, 3:28pm | #

and never, ever call it "Turkey Day" again.

CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED

"Everyone is beautiful in their own way!" ♫♫♫


(But some ways are more beautiful than others.)

smartass sob | October 31, 2007, 3:32pm | #

But they're CUTE bushy tailed rats. Cuteness overrides multiple sins. Even being in the oreder Rodentia. It's a fact! Look it up.

What fact am I to look up - that they're rodents? I already knew that; that's probably why they look like rats!

Leonora Helmsley, aet. 5 | October 31, 2007, 3:50pm | #

Only members of the Clean Plate Club don't pay taxes.

Yogi | October 31, 2007, 4:00pm | #

and so begins the "War on Halloween" ... those bastards!

J sub D | October 31, 2007, 4:09pm | #

What fact am I to look up ...

This fact Cuteness trumps all!

VM | October 31, 2007, 4:16pm | #

J Sub:

some parts trump more than others
(the snake one is pretty rad!)

:)

Karen | October 31, 2007, 4:18pm | #

Many agreements on the pumpkin doughnuts, but my favorite use of the orange squash is pumpkin cheesecake. No, sadly, I don't have a recipe, but I can recommend the pumpkin cake Emeril made on his show last night. (There are some small benefits to a nasty case of the 'flu. Wresting the remote away from my husband and sons is one.) I'll definitely try the pumpkin ale, too.

Actually, the only effect I've had from this entire thread is a sudden attack of hunger for nutmeg-flavored things. . . .

Karen | October 31, 2007, 4:20pm | #

Oh, and VM's cuteoverload link is more relevant than I'm sure he realizes. The cat lounging on the dish drying rack is named "pumpkin."

Squirrels's attorney | October 31, 2007, 4:24pm | #

The defense rests!

Warren | October 31, 2007, 4:26pm | #

I brew the way I cook, I start with a recipe and then adjust as desired. This year's pumpkin ale as best I can recall:

6 small pie pumpkins, gutted, pealed, cut into squares and roasted at 300 for an hour. Lightly mashed with potato masher.

add pumpkin to gallon of water and 1 lb of 6row cracked barley bring to 150 for one hour. Sparge with 170 water. I have three gallons in my brew pot and another gallon of sweet wort off to the side that didn't fit.

bring to boil, add 3lbs pale spray dried malt, 3lbs amber spraydried malt, 1/2 lb of molasses, 1/2lb of honey. then 0.5 oz of bittering hops (appx 9% alpha). Boil for half hour. then add:
0.5 oz aromatic hops (4% alpha)
1Tbs whole cloves
1Tbs Allspice
6 sticks cinnimon
(spices coarsely ground)
1 small hand grated ginger
0.5 tsp gypsum
0.25 tsp salt
boil 15 min
add 1tsp spanish moss
boil 12 min.
add 0.5 oz aromatic hops
boil 3 min
Take off heat and cool in ice bath. Put in fermenter. Add rest of wort. Fill to 5 gal with fresh water.
pitch with WYeast british ale yeast.

I'm a little worried about my hops, it was left over from my last brew. I have to drive 100 miles, to St Louis to get supplies and still there's only one decent brew shop. They won't sell 1oz of hops (2oz only).

dbust1 | October 31, 2007, 4:37pm | #

Thanks Warren!

VM | October 31, 2007, 4:50pm | #

that was indeed the best Kitteh and rack! (didn't notice the name, but did notice the baby moose on the pharm animal section)

:)

Karen | October 31, 2007, 5:30pm | #

The baby moose were completely adorable. I now want to go to Russia to the moose farm. The mini-donkeys were impossibly cute also. Thanks for the link, VM!

isildur | October 31, 2007, 5:38pm | #

Is it taxed by weight? Because last night we carved four pumpkins and took all the seeds we scooped out of them and roasted them and ate them.

So do I pay tax on the seeds only? Or on the goop + seeds? Do I weigh them before or after roasting (they're gonna lose a lot of weight from moisture loss)?

Maybe I should weigh the jack o' lanterns instead. But then I'd be skipping out on the taxes on the eyeholes and mouth.

My smaller dog likes to chew on pumpkins. If I feed them to him afterwards, does that count as a food use?

Renee Mulvey | October 31, 2007, 6:31pm | #

They made the change because they wanted the extra money - who in hell do they think they're kidding?

You paranoid anti-government types:
The tax is to discourage young people from taking up pumpkin carving while inducing current pumpkin carvers to quit.Our sympathies are with the poor addicted pumpkin carvers so we are actually taxing Big Pumpkin.

Too much ale, but libertarian sentiments survive | October 31, 2007, 8:53pm | #

...only outlaws will kin pump.

Dee | November 1, 2007, 10:20am | #

They should pile all the now older and semi rotting pumpkins on the steps of the lawmakers that came up with this crap. If they thought getting 6% of each pumpkin sale was good then they will be ecstatic to get the whole pumpkins back as well.

They should stack those things as high as they can. Then they should make sure none of the politicians who came up with this bullshit get sent home next time they are up for election.

Pumpkingate, when will it end.

de stijl | November 1, 2007, 11:24am | #

Iowa governor rescinded the punkin' tax last night. I don't know how the refunds will work, though.