Australian cattlemen were told that their version of NAIS would only cost $3 per animal but it is now exceeding $37 per animal. Remember that, especially with government programs, everything costs more than expected. A good rule is to multiply by Pi, apparently that was not good enough for the Australians. Once NAIS becomes mandatory in the United States and the RFID industry has locked in their monopolistic control over our ability to own livestock we can expect to see the prices of tags and record keeping rise. Will increases in the mandatory annual Premise ID registration fee be far behind? What about new fees for reporting each animal ‘event’ as required under the animal tracking provision?
Rumor has it that the big motivation for forced immediate Premise ID in Texas is the millions of dollars that Premise ID fees will provide to the government’s coffers in taxes, er, I mean Premise ID registration fees. Once the government latches on to some new way to siphon money out of our wallets and into their hands you can bet they’ll raise the annual fees, animal registration fees, reporting fees, etc. Additionally don’t forget the enormous fines for non-compliance. NAIS will become one more way for the government to redistribute the wealth - from the low earners to the government bureaucrats and the biggest corporations.
Walter,
I had a good laugh over your choice of multiplier in calculating the actual cost of a government program. Is it more than coincidence that you chose an irrational number?
Comment Jason — March 10, 2006 @ 12:49 pm
*grin* Very purposeful… Glad you enjoyed it.
Comment walterj — March 10, 2006 @ 1:23 pm
I’ve had several people point out to me that in addition to all the costs and taxes NAIS will impose directly, it will also open the door for additional property taxes on farm animals and even pets.
Comment Leslie — March 11, 2006 @ 7:31 am
November 26, 2005
Tracking animals with RFID
In order to monitor and protect the health of animals that are used for human consumption, the federal government and leading agribusinesses in America have come together for a major joint effort. The National Animal Identification System (NAIS) will cost around half a billion dollars by 2009. The recurrent expenses include the cost of tags and system upgrades. These could be as high as $ 122 million each year.
Comment Anon — March 21, 2006 @ 4:06 pm
Once they get done maxing thier fees, they will make enormous taxes off of people. They will squeeze until NOONE CAN AFFORD TO OWN AN ANIMAL OF ANY KIND
Comment irene — June 19, 2006 @ 11:16 am
i bet they would even go as far as to tax wild bird feeders
Comment irene — June 19, 2006 @ 11:17 am