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"The Kosher Food Tax is the biggest consumer fraud existing in 
America."

The bizarre claim by right wing extremists that kosher 
certification markings on food labels ("U," "K," etc.) cost 
consumers extra money and represent, in effect, a "kosher tax" to 
make rabbis rich, is a striking example of the propaganda used by 
anti-Semites to trick the uninformed into accepting conspiracy 
charges and stereotypes about Jews.

Other anti-Semitic allegations regarding kosher designation on 
foods include charges that "the kosher food racket" benefits Jewish 
organizations while only a small segment of the American population 
desires such markings, and that even the meanings of the labels are 
guarded secrets deliberately kept from non-Jews to trick them into 
paying the "kosher tax."

The Facts

Attacks on the labeling of food with the symbols for kashruth 
(traditional Jewish dietary laws) have been a standard ploy of anti-
Jewish bigots in the U.S. for decades. Such symbols as [encircled 
U], emblem of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations (UOJC), 
among others, confirm that products are kosher -- i.e., that foods 
and production processes have been inspected by competent rabbis 
from the respective organizations and found to be in compliance 
with Jewish dietary law.

The cost to the consumer for this service is a miniscule fraction 
of the total production overhead; it is so negligible in practical 
terms as to be virtually non-existent. A May 18, 1975 New York 
Times article reported that the cost to General Foods' "Bird's Eye" 
Unit, for example, is 6.5 millionths (.0000065) of a cent per item. 
Furthermore, a representative of the Heinz Company has said that 
the per item cost is "so small we can't even calculate it," and 
that such labeling actually makes products less costly by 
increasing the market for them.

Indeed, according to marketing manager Steven Zamichow, quoted in 
the Washington Post, "Entenmann's Inc. received kosher 
certification in 1981 and sales of [its] baked goods 'increased 
substantially.'" Visits to the Entenmann's plant, from a 
"mashgiach," or kashruth inspector, are provided by the Union of 
Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America. The UOJC is one of 
several groups that maintain such a kosher inspection service, 
certifying foods and related products to be in compliance with 
Jewish dietary laws through all phases of production. The profit 
from these products goes, of course, to the companies that 
manufacture them and the stores that sell them, not to "the Jews."*

The Lies

The most active right wing extremist sources of the "kosher tax" 
hoax are various Ku Klux Klan groups and the National States Rights 
Party, based in Marietta, GA. The Invisible Empire Knights of the 
Ku Klux Klan (now based in North Carolina), through its Empire 
Publishing, offers a pamphlet titled "The Kosher Tax Swindle" to 
its members and supporters. The pamphlet begins:

"American families are paying tribute to Jews every time they sit 
down at the table to eat and in many instances, polish their shoes, 
silver or wrap the leftover Thanksgiving turkey. Why? Because Jews 
have discovered a way to coerce business to pay taxes directly to 
Jewish organizations and pass the cost on to the consumer."

The racist and anti-Semitic National States Rights Party ( NSRP), 
founded in 1958, became a focal point of violent opposition to 
civil rights struggle in the South and has functioned as both a 
propaganda mill and a political party.

The party's founder, Edward Fields, has served as its National 
Secretary, as well as the editor of the party's hate sheet, "The 
Truth At Last" (formerly "The Thunderbolt"). Fields was also the 
Grand Dragon of the now-defunct New Order, Knights of the Ku Klux 
Klan.

"The Truth At Last" published a special issue in June 1990 which 
dealt only with kosher symbols. Articles appeared in this edition 
with such titles as: "Six States Make Rabbis Kosher Policeman 
[sic]," "Secret Kosher Tax Boosts Food Prices," "How Kosher 
Blackmail Works," and "Kosher Tax Symbols May Be Changed to Hide 
Swindle."

"Describing" kashruth, Fields has written that "All of this is 
superstitious nonsense and has absolutely nothing to do with 
improving the quality of any food product. Still, this clever 
scheme of requiring kosher labeling has become a multi-million 
dollar business today!" Another article in "The Truth At Last" 
asserted that the "kosher tax" is paid to Orthodox Jewish 
organizations "just so an estimated 10% to 20% of Jewry will buy 
their products," and that "we are all forced to pay this Kosher Tax 
just to appease LESS THAN ONE PERCENT OF THE POPULATION!"

Bigotry Over a Beer Label

With the recent announcement that the Adolph Coors Brewing Co. will 
carry the [encircled U] symbol on its beer, Hans Schmidt, founder 
of the California-based German-American National Political Action 
Committee (GANPAC) took it upon himself to write a protest letter 
to Peter Coors, President of the company.

Schmidt, who was a member of the Hitler Youth and claims to have 
served in the Waffen-SS during World War II, has been a leading 
proponent of Holocaust "revisionism" in the United States for many 
years. Following along the lines of many other anti-Semites, 
Schmidt promotes the myth of "Jewish control" of banks, the media, 
and the government.

In his letter to Peter Coors, Schmidt asserted that "as someone of 
German descent you ought to be ashamed to acquiesce to this scheme. 
You must know that the Jews in the aggregate use a lot of the 
finances thus gathered to spy on non-Jews, to terrorize others 
(JDL), to ruin other people's businesses (numberous Jewish 
organizations and individuals), and to promote their political 
power to the point where this country has been subservient to the 
needs of another nation (Israel)."

Schmidt also repeated the usual false charges regarding kosher 
symbols, including that "there usually are great costs and efforts 
connected with the kosher certification and that rabbis will make 
upwards of $450,000 from Coors." In a post-script Schmidt made the 
suggestion that Coors add the following symbols to its label: "a 
symbolic fish for Protestants," "a Catholic cross for Catholics," 
and "a Swastika for Nordics/Odinists."

Beating the "Tax"

Some extremists call for a boycott of foods and companies that 
succumb to the "kosher conspiracy." For example, in an April 25, 
1990 newsletter published by the Populist Party, a far-right 
political group, chairperson Monica Rorhig states: "God knows we 
are taxed enough already without volunteering to tithe to a foreign 
country and a foreign philosophy. It's a kick to walk out of a 
grocery store knowing you have successfully evaded this illegal 
tax." Ms. Rorhig explains that through such means as this alleged 
tax, "we (as a nation) are being carefully herded closer and closer 
to International totalitarian tyranny." Pamphlets, in groups of 5-
100, are offered through this newsletter for Populist Party members 
to circulate and spread the warning against this "unfair taxing."

"You Don't Have to be Jewish..."

Contrary to the anti-Semitic charge that kosher labeling is a 
tightly guarded "Jewish secret" kept from Christians and others, it 
is not only Jews who prefer to purchase kosher food. According to 
the Washington Post (Sept. 27, 1990), "Some kosher marketing 
officials estimate there may be as many as six million Americans 
who seek out Kosher foods in the supermarket. Of these only 1.5 
million are Jewish. Moslems and Seventh Day Adventists also adhere 
to certain aspects of the Jewish dietary laws, but the bulk of 
Kosher shoppers appear to be consumers who believe the Kosher 
certification...means higher quality food."

Yet whether or not they choose to purchase kosher food products, 
most Americans will reject the bigotry inherent in the "Kosher Tax" 
propaganda, recognizing it as another effort by extremists to 
exploit legitimate public concerns (e.g. taxes, the economy, etc.) 
as vehicles for anti-Semitism.

*In the separate case of kosher meat and poultry purchased at 
kosher butcher shops (as distinguished from the broad general range 
of mass-market consumer goods certified kosher), the consumer does 
pay a higher price. This cost is due to the more intensive, 
continuous rabbinical supervision required for the exacting 
technicalities of kosher slaughter and inspection, processing, 
storage and quality of kosher meat -- an inescapable necessity for 
this particular product, applicable only to its limited market, not 
the general consumer.

The Kosher tax was one of several indirect taxes imposed by the 
Russian Imperial government and other European states on Jews, and 
much reviled as such.

It is not to be confused with the modern antisemitic urban legend 
of a similar name, as often used by Edmonton's resident hatemonger, 
William "Patrick Humpboys" Grosvenor.