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Maryland decides to tax residents when it rains

Banning phosphates in laundry detergent apparently made a huge dent is helping save the bay. As for this fee, it just depends on what they earmark the proceeds toward. If they spend it on schools, not benefit. If they spend it on improving storm water management, then it might could help some. Other than being a state tax, it is really no different than the sewage fee my city charges which is the cost of sewage treatment pro-rated based on water consumption---the more water you use the higher your sewage fee even if you are using that water on your garden. There is no poop meter on the sewer lines.

It's not a State tax though, it's limited to the 10 most populous counties. And there already is a poop tax, it's called the Flush Tax and everyone pay it, $60/year per account. The tax was doubled in 2012.

"State “Flush Tax” began January 2005…

In 2004, the Maryland Legislature took a major step towards protecting the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, when it passed what has become known as “the flush tax”.

The bill established the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Restoration Fund to be supported by a $2.50 a month fee on sewer bills and an equivalent $30 annual fee on septic system owners. Utilities customers saw a new line item on their quarterly bills beginning January 1, 2005 for $7.50 per quarter ($2.50 per month). These funds are collected by the County and turned over to the State who distributes the funds to utilities to upgrade wastewater treatment plants to reduce nitrogen discharge which causes algae blooms that harm fish, crabs, native plants and other aquatic life. The revenues from septic tank users are used to upgrade or replace failing septic systems and to provide financial assistance to farmers to help plant cover crops to prevent nutrient runoff from agricultural land."

State Flush Tax

Of course this new tax is suppose to do the same thing.

The "storm management fee," passed by the state legislature in 2012, will go into effect following a decree from Democrat Gov. Martin O'Malley.

"But first, a little background [via the The Gazette]:

In 2010 the Obama administration's Environmental Protection Agency ordered Maryland to reduce stormwater runoff into the Chesapeake Bay so that nitrogen levels fall 22 percent and phosphorus falls 15 percent from current amounts. The price tag: $14.8 billion."

Here
 
It's not a State tax though, it's limited to the 10 most populous counties. And there already is a poop tax, it's called the Flush Tax and everyone pay it, $60/year per account. The tax was doubled in 2012.

"State “Flush Tax” began January 2005…

In 2004, the Maryland Legislature took a major step towards protecting the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, when it passed what has become known as “the flush tax”.

The bill established the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Restoration Fund to be supported by a $2.50 a month fee on sewer bills and an equivalent $30 annual fee on septic system owners. Utilities customers saw a new line item on their quarterly bills beginning January 1, 2005 for $7.50 per quarter ($2.50 per month). These funds are collected by the County and turned over to the State who distributes the funds to utilities to upgrade wastewater treatment plants to reduce nitrogen discharge which causes algae blooms that harm fish, crabs, native plants and other aquatic life. The revenues from septic tank users are used to upgrade or replace failing septic systems and to provide financial assistance to farmers to help plant cover crops to prevent nutrient runoff from agricultural land."

State Flush Tax

Of course this new tax is suppose to do the same thing.

The "storm management fee," passed by the state legislature in 2012, will go into effect following a decree from Democrat Gov. Martin O'Malley.

"But first, a little background [via the The Gazette]:

In 2010 the Obama administration's Environmental Protection Agency ordered Maryland to reduce stormwater runoff into the Chesapeake Bay so that nitrogen levels fall 22 percent and phosphorus falls 15 percent from current amounts. The price tag: $14.8 billion."

Here

My flush tax as you call it ranges in the neighborhood of $40-$50 per month, so paying $60 a year gets you no sympathy from me. It seems to me it is usually $46ish. Reducing nitrogen and phosphorus levels is a fancy way to say stop dumping so much fertilizer into the watershed. One way to do that is with better waterway protection. Just sowing a relatively small strip of land with a riparian mix and letting nature take its course will help a lot, as would storm water settling pools. IIRC, Maryland has a lot of cows. There is another industry you can go after to force best practices upon that will help mitigate the watershed problems.
 
My flush tax as you call it ranges in the neighborhood of $40-$50 per month, so paying $60 a year gets you no sympathy from me. It seems to me it is usually $46ish. Reducing nitrogen and phosphorus levels is a fancy way to say stop dumping so much fertilizer into the watershed. One way to do that is with better waterway protection. Just sowing a relatively small strip of land with a riparian mix and letting nature take its course will help a lot, as would storm water settling pools. IIRC, Maryland has a lot of cows. There is another industry you can go after to force best practices upon that will help mitigate the watershed problems.

I'm not asking for any sympathy just pointing out that they already instituted a new tax to do the same thing the Rain tax is for.

I know what the is suppose to be reduce but there just isn't a lot of fertilizer used in Baltimore City, unless you count what comes out of the Mayor, City Council and other politicians as fertilizer :) As far as the number of cows in the State there are about 200,000 which put Maryland 41st out of the 50 States. Now there are a lot of chickens in Maryland, mostly on the Eastern shore which is exempt from the tax.
 
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