The Fleas Cling to the Golden Fleece
Hosannah, a brain-splittingly stupid tax plan that even the Senate won't endorse:
In a letter sent Wednesday to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), PETA President Ingrid Newkirk stated, "[V]egetarians are responsible for far fewer greenhouse-gas emissions and other kinds of environmental degradation than meat-eaters."
The letter added that vegetarians should receive a tax break "just as people who purchase a hybrid vehicle enjoy a tax break."
The best part of this is how little the group's gamed it out:
Asked how the government would certify that taxpayers are vegetarian, PETA spokesman Matt Prescott said, "I imagine that a system could be adopted whereby taxpayers could show receipts for food purchases and/or sign an affidavit attesting … that they are vegetarian. If Congress is seriously interested about rewarding people for reducing their carbon emissions, then it could develop a system to verify that people are vegetarian."
It could develop a system! Of course.
Brendan O'Neill boxed PETA to a TKO back in 2005. Sara Rimensnyder recounted PETA's battle against People for Eating Tasty Animals back in 2002.
Via To The People, whose Cicero adds:
I have a similar idea, and I hope PETA supporters and environmentalists are the first to sign up. The federal government should give $10,000 to the family of every person who kills themselves to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. I call it, "Save the Earth, Drop Dead."
Why go that far? PETA should steal from the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement and suggest tax breaks for couples who don't breed. (Or bring on Mark Steyn and double the tax break for Muslim couples.)