President Joe Biden's Build Back Better Act, a major budget and infrastructure bill, comprises a lot of components including some massive taxes. While people are still you understand in detail the mega budget and infrastructure bill, a new claim has been made that is circulating on social media. According to the claim, the bill contains a "methane tax" of around $2,600 per head of cattle, and around $500 per swine, per year.
Since then many have been confused and worried. However, truth is that the entire claim is false and baseless and has been made to mislead millions of Americans. To put it straight there is no such "methane tax' allocated in the bill.
The Hoax
Just days after the Build Back Better Act was announced, on November one, several social media posts started appearing with the claim that the mega budget and infrastructure bill contains a "methane tax" of around $2,600 per head of cattle, and around $500 per swine, per year.
One of the posts on Facebook appeared in the form of a newspaper article that claimed: "Were you aware the $3.5 Trillion Human Infrastructure package includes an animal agriculture tax of $2,600!! per head of cattle? $500 for swine!!!..."
The post was accompanied by a photograph of U.S. Rep. Markwayne Mullin, a Republican from Oklahoma, and appeared in the form of an article.
In fact, the same column was also published on Mullin's website on September 22, a long time before the Build Back Better America Act was actually approved and passed.
So far, this is true that Mullin did post that the bill contains a "methane tax" of around $2,600 per head of cattle, and around $500 per swine. But actually there is nothing like that mentioned in the bill and the claim that was made earlier is simply false and baseless.
The Origin
The several social media posts were based mostly on Mullin's article, which is not at all correct and was written days ago. Mullin's claim in his column read: "In an attempt to eliminate fossil fuels, this legislation [the Build Back Better Act] would impose a "fee" on all methane emissions, including in our agriculture industry. We all know that a fee is just a tax and that consumers are the ones who will pay for it. The tax is estimated to cost $6,500 per dairy cow, $2,600 per head of cattle, and $500 per swine each year. That is more than what the animals are worth, it'll run ranchers out of business."
This column was posted on social media which created all the doubts and confusion. The other way to put it is that the opinion is completely Mullin's and he may have written it thinking that a "methane tax" could have been included in the Build Back Better America Act.
However, those opinions and views were cast long before the bill came to effect and thus the claim can be termed completely false. As of November 3, 2021, the Build Back Better Act doesn't contain any tax or fee on methane that would equate to thousands of dollars per head of cattle, or hundreds of dollars per head of swine.
Although there is a component that states there is a "methane fee" but it has got nothing to do with cattle. The Section 30114 of the Build Back Better America Act provides for a "methane fee," but it applies only to "petroleum and natural gas systems," and not the agriculture sector. Therefore, Mullin's claim — that "this legislation would impose a 'fee' on all methane emissions, including in our agriculture industry" — is nothing but false.
