Maryland Rain Tax going into effect

[Meandering]

And there you go.

So if you have a dry well at the end of the downspout can you qualify for a tax discount????????

Or is it just a reason to have more taxes?


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[Pat Butler]

Never get confused over an environmentalist's true motivations. It rarely has to do only with the environment itself.

 

[CANative]

Low information post. ^^^

The scope of restoring health to the Chesapeake Bay watershed is too big for any single government agency or group. This fee we're discussing (the so-called "Rain Tax") is just one element.

It's current health on a scale of 1 to 100 is only 32. It's an improvement from the score of 28 in 2010 but it's still not good enough.

The importance of the Chesapeake Bay cannot be overstated.

 

[Pat Butler]

You'll eventually see many environmental groups talking about the horrors of 'big corporations' and 'profits' rather than just pollution itself. Most of the large organizations have slid from having an initial concern over pollution into wanting to tell people and businesses what they have to do in most aspects of their life.

Rain comes from the sky and these guys are worried about it making it into the Bay? Give me a break.

They'd best be concerned about the various fertilizers, weed killers, oil spills, etc. that are already on the ground rather than just broadly penalizing everyone for rain water. Kind of as dumb as monitoring C02 emissions which come out of everyone's mouth- but we've already crossed the bridge into insanity.

 

[CANative]

They'd best be concerned about the various fertilizers, weed killers, oil spills, etc. that are already on the ground rather than just broadly penalizing everyone for rain water. Kind of as dumb as monitoring C02 emissions which come out of everyone's mouth- but we've already crossed the bridge into insanity.

It's all of that in addition to rain water run off from all the extra roofs and impervious surfaces (parking lots, driveways, etc.) The so-called rain tax is one element of a larger effort to prevent phenomena such as dead zones which kill fish and crabs virtually on contact. If you don't care about the poor fishy's then worry about the thousands of watermen who depend on fish and crabs for their livelihoods and the those business that depend on tourism.

 

[Mr Rex]

Wouldn't this go over better PC wise as a Dihydrogen monoxide tax?

 

[Calvin the Airedale]

I lived in Virginia for years. The Chesapeake Bay and it's estuary is an extremely important resource in terms of economic boon as well as natural beauty and urban runoff is damaging it.

The environmental concerns caused by pollution in the runoff not to mention additional fresh water in the system harms the fisheries, the wildlife and a number of other important elements that go to a healthy system. It is the source of dollars from tourism, restaurants, hotels, gas stations, etc., ad infinitum.

Who should pay to mitigate the problem and where is the money to come from if not the individual property owners who's concrete and rooftops enable this?

Yeah and if the taxes they actually collected did anything about the above then the cost might be worth it. As it is, it is used to pay for the bloated union wages and pension obligations of government sewer and water department workers.

 

[Pat Butler]

But they need to go directly to the source which is the pollutants themselves. So a much more effective strategy would be to places limits on various fertilizers and pesticides so that the water runoff itself would be clean.

Taxing rainwater without knowing whether or not the rainwater is polluted is not a very fair way to do it. But again, the issue really isn't about the environment, is it? That's why it doesn't matter if it makes sense. It gives them the excuse of the 'environment' to tax people.

I can think of all sorts of things that damage various industries for which you could also tax. Why not tax the people who fish in the waters for blowing smoke out their exhaust when they drive to the marina? After all, they're polluting in their own waters by doing that.

 

[Meandering]

For years they dumped mercury and keypone into the bay. For years there were warnings not to eat the fish caught in the bay.

Now that they have the Keypone under control, let's tax the rain? Come on.

Industry and big government reside along all the rivers and estuaries that feed the bay. Paper mills to bomb warehouses, tourist attractions to some of our nations most historic places. Farming, the source of phosphorous and nitrates is greatly reduced there from what it used to be due to growth of the area. But now it's a problem?


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[Mr Rex]

Just fertilized the ponds. Triple super phosphate 0-46-0. Stopped an agreement with the local guy that fed and harvested our pasture because his fertilization schedule caused an abnormal surface algae growth, which is cross with growing fish etc. I'm going "organic" and look forward to making coin on the PC rank and file. If i get a broccoli crop off and running, I'm gangster.
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