There's Nothing Humane About This Abusive Law Suit

The Humane Society of the United States, a $99 million tax exempt organization, is suing the State of California in an attempt to deny chicken farmers the state sales tax exemption for the purchase farm equipment; an exemption that is available to all farmers in California (and should be extended to all forms of manufacturing). Bear in mind, unlike the Humane Society, poultry farmers do pay plenty in income and property taxes.

The Humane Society claims that the sales tax exemption should be denied to poultry farmers because state Board of Equalization regulations prohibit the sales tax exemption to those engaged in illegal activity - in this case the Humane Society claims animal abuse. Fair enough, if poultry farmers are breaking the law then charge them with a crime. But, the Humane Society knows better and instead they turn to the San Francisco Superior Court, seeking a liberal judge and hoping that judicial activism will trump the law so they can strike a blow to the poultry industry.

If They Don't Like It, They Should Compete in the Marketplace
The truth is poultry farmers are not breaking the law; the Humane Society simply does not approve of their legal farming operations. Given their assets and income of nearly $100 million the Humane Society could get into the business of chicken farming and compete, providing consumers a choice between their more costly "humane" eggs and other eggs. I suspect they know that the bulk of consumers do not care, and would buy the cheaper (and actually equally humane) eggs. Further, it would not make sense for the Humane Society to enter the poultry business because it is not what they do; I understand. But then, get the heck out of the business of telling those who actually farm poultry how to do their business.

Fighting the Battle on Multiple Fronts
I suspect it won't be long until some Democrat in the state Legislature introduces a bill at the request of the Humane Society to refuse the sales tax exemption to poultry farmers. The good news is that such an effort would require a 2/3 vote of the Legislature as a tax increase. Farmers should be happy to have Republicans in the Legislature to protect them from such heavy-handed tactics.