Sales tax on pumpkins: “They’re decorations, not food”
Posted on October 30, 2007 in Money & Finance by DM
UPDATE 11/1, 7 a.m.: Express yourself!
UPDATE 10/31, 12:10 p.m.: This thing is everywhere. It’s also been spotted on Michelle Malkin’s blog and on ABCnews.com. Looks like good ol’ Midwestern sensibility has gone viral!
UPDATE 10/31, 7:15 a.m.: Wow, this story is big! This morning it’s linked from Yahoo’s main page as well as the front page of the Drudge Report! Way to go, Iowa!
UPDATE 10/31, 8:37 a.m.: Story is gone from Yahoo!’s main page, but a picture’s been added on Drudge.
The Iowa Department of Revenue will soon be searching through your sofa cushions, confiscating loose change, because they are really hard up for revenue sources.
That’s the only conclusion one can reasonably draw from a report in the Oct. 30 Register revealing that the State now considers pumpkins Halloween decorations instead of “edible squash,” which therefore makes them taxable. According to 
the Register, “…the department ruled that pumpkins are taxable if they are advertised for use as jack-’o-lanterns or decorations, or if it’s understood that they will be used for that purpose.”
If it’s “understood”? Does that mean the check-out clerk will ask you why you’re buying a pumpkin? “Paper or plastic? ID for the liquor? Jack-o-lantern or pie?”
No, turns out asking isn’t quite good enough: if you’re actually going to eat the pumpkin, you can only get the exemption from the tax if you fill out a form! Good thinking, that won’t hold up the check-out line at all!
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