This story just cracked me up. And not just because the Iowa Department of Revenue wants to tax your pumpkin if you use it for a display, but not if you want to use it for food. No, it's for this first sentence.

The Department recently refined its position on whether pumpkins are subject to Iowa sales tax to more closely match what we believe to be their predominant use.

In the past, pumpkins were exempt from sales tax as a food (edible squash), even if they were to be later made into jack-o'-lanterns or used as decorations.

Our position now is that pumpkins are taxable if:

So what I want to know is how many people attended the meeting where "The Department recently refined its position..." How many, and at what cost? What could these people have been doing instead of cogitating on the burning question of pumpkin use?

The Tax Policy Blog provides more feedback here.

Labels: taxes