Gas tax on cows

PERRY, N.Y. (WIVB) - Most of us have heard of cow tipping, but cow taxing? Believe it or not the Environmental Protection Agency is exploring a new tax on dairy and livestock farmers, and it's a strange one.

Call it a gas tax on cows. The Environmental Protection Agency is considering a plan to tax farmers for each cow owned as a way to control the animal's methane emissions.

Donald Butler is the co-owner of Sunny Knolls Farm in Perry, NY.

Butler said, "It is kind of unbelievable, for sure." He adds the idea "stinks".

Here's the breakdown on the gas tax. Farmers would have to cough up $175 per dairy cow every year, $87.50 for a beef cow. For Butler's farm, with about 3,000 cows, that's $300,000 per year.

Butler said, "Pretty expensive, it's just not viable for most of the farmers in our area."

If the gas tax goes through it could be a big hit for dairy farmers who are struggling in this tight economy.

Senator Charles Schumer (D-New York) said, "Let me just say, Washington's come up with a lot of clinkers. But this one takes the cake. To tax cows makes no sense at all."

According to the EPA, a burping bovine may not be good for greenhouse emissions. New York's senior senator isn't moved by the idea he believes could cost New York farmers $120 million.

Schumer said, "They say when cows belch they put a lot of methane into the air. You don't know whether to laugh or cry."

Area farmers aren't laughing.

They're expecting milk prices to go down, cutting into their profits.

Meanwhile, Senator Schumer says while the EPA's hasn't passed on the cow gas tax, he believes he's making progress.