ANNAPOLIS A number of legislators are concerned that Gov. Martin O'Malley's proposal to raise the flush tax from $2.50 to $5 a month to help clean up the Chesapeake Bay could be too much for constituents to handle, especially in a bad economy.
The flush tax, which raises funds for updates of wastewater treatment plants, as well as septic systems and stormwater management, costs each household a total of $30 a year. But O'Malley's proposal for the Bay Restoration Fund ties the fee to consumption, with $5 being the average that most people will pay per month.
Those who use less water could pay less, but high-volume users could pay up to $60 a year.
10 comments:
Seriously...all the way up to $5 a month?! So, that's a yearly increase of $30. Wow, a huge increase...not!
How much is a clean Bay worth, to our economy, to our health, to our recreation?
I'm totally OK with folks being against this fee increase on principle, or because they've looked over the data and have decided that the program is ineffective.
But please don't tell me that an extra $30 a year is going to break anyone. I think someone that claims that either a) is being dishonest or b) your expenses are way too close to the edge. You're one set of wiper blades away from financial ruin.
flush and democrat just go together
anonymous 9:50, what an Idiot, with all due respect.
5% sales tax to 6% sales tax and now a proposed 7% sales tax.
$2.50 to $12.00 to cross the Bay Bridge.
Gas tax going up, liquor tax going up, tobacco tax going up, Wicomico County tax increase of 7 cents each year for the next 4 years.
When will you Idiots finally wake up. Don't hand us this crap that these increases won't break us. It's liberals like YOU that have absolutely destroyes America.
By the way, Salisbury News will start charging ALL liberals to read this Blog. Every time you visit it will cost you 10 cents. That would mean at least $1.00 a day, based on liberal paranoia. But it won't break you, right?
I don't see how expanding a program, that by all accounts is working rather well, is a liberal issue.
Reducing runoff and pollution into the Bay is a good thing...not a liberal issue.
Attaching a fee to an activity that is directly related to the problem, rather than just raising taxes...that used to be the CONSERVATIVE way to accomplish solutions to the problem.
Now it seems the conservative way to solve a problem is to ignore the problem exists, blame the govt, blame the media, blame the "liberals", and never, ever, raise taxes - ever.
Care to argue that runoff into the Bay isn't a problem?
I am a fiscal conservative. I want to see any tax/fee increases actually directed to solve the problem they are intended for. I oppose broad based tax increases than do nothing but explode the size of government. But I also know that reducing pollution in the Bay is a problem that will take a state/regional solution to solve. And that solution will take money...simple as that.
LOL Joe! You tell 'em!
Until Maryland stops wasteful spending, EVERYONE should be against EVERY new tax!
How many taxes have been implemented with a "purpose" only to have them say down the road, they're going to raise the tax again, while the "purpose" for the tax to begin with has no money?
Where are all these funds? They're not in the areas they were raised for or there wouldn't be a problem having money for new schools, new road projects, etc.
They're squandering your money!
Wake up!
9:50 Please...its ALL about the $$$ and control NOT the environment. Wake up!
9:50, 10:18, sounds like a really great idea raise fees to protect the bay. Unfortunately this is just the way democrats and liberals work. Want to save the bay well first you have to get baltimore and dc to clean up their sewer systems and stop dumping so much sh!t into the bay. Now go tell virginia and penssylvania to stop pouring all their pollutants into the rivers that feed the bay. Until those things happen it won't matter how much marylanders pay nothing will change and the bay will continually get worse! Looka t where the biggest dead zones are in the bay, by the areas I just mentioned. want to fix the problem you have to identify the source of those problems. Not just go for feel good ideas!
Sure hope no one gets sick & needs to use the toilet repeatedly. Flu season could get even more expensive. This whole flush tax thing is a joke to begin with. Tax, tax, tax so they can spend on more stadiums, ball parks, teams, etc.
They steal the gas tax , they steal the property transfer tax and they steal the flush tax. No one really knows what else. They do NOT use the funds for their intended purpose. Come on people get with it. The taxes are like drugs to an addict, the State simpley cannot get enough. They have no idea how to reduce spending
They want to raise the flush tax rate because they have moved $290 million out of the bay fund and placed it in the general fund where they have no doubt spent it. Right now there is $290 million worth of debt in the Bay fund...And we Marylanders have to pay it back with interest!
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