Washington - The Supreme Court left intact the $1-per-head fee cattle producers must pay on all cattle sold in or imported to the United States to fund generic advertising for beef and beef products.
The court, without comment, rejected a Kansas cattle rancher's challenge to the fee required by a 1985 federal law, the Beef Promotion and Research Act.
Jerry Goetz's lawsuit, filed on behalf of all other cattle producers, contended that the fee violates free-speech and equal-protection rights and amounts to an unlawful tax.
A federal judge and the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Goetz and upheld the assessment.
"The objective of the act is valid and the stimulation of the beef market is a proper regulatory activity,” the appeals court ruled last July.
The appeals court said the fee is not a tax because its primary purpose is not to raise revenue.
In rejecting Goetz's free-speech and equal-protection arguments, the appeals court relied on a 1997 Supreme Court decision that upheld a federal program forcing some fruit producers to pay for generic ads to promote their industry.
The case is Goetz vs. Glickman, 98-607.
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