This new tax is a load of ****

[myheaven]

Md. Taxing residents on non pourus surfaces. This is all such a load if dog droppings! I just wanna puke!!!
http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2013/0...time-it-rains/

[LonelyNorthwind]

That's the most asinine "tax" I've ever heard of! They had to dig really deep to come up with that one.

[Harry Chickpea]

I think representatives tied to your roof and driveway are porous...

[TnAndy]

Simple....cover your roof with a layer of sand or gravel, and rip up the paved driveway.

[wannabechef]

They do it all over the US...it's a storm water tax and it is dumb.

Taxed enough already!

[hsmom2four]

Yes it stinks but its nothing new. We've been paying a storm water run off fee since we've been in this house which is now 19 years. It used to be on our water bill but now it's on our property tax bill.

[Roadking]

They will always find a way to take just a little more...

Matt

[WoolyBear]

Ask us about our "flush tax"
"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.

More information on the Bay Restoration fee is available on the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) web site at http://www.mde.state.md.us/Pages/Home.aspx. "

It has since been doubled to $60/year. We've been paying this for about 10 years and truthfully I have not seen any improvement in the bay. Our governor's over those years have all been very good at robbing various departments (natural resource, transportation, etc.) to fund their pet projects.

[Trixters_muse]

Yeah we pay it here too. My water doesn't "run off" anywhere, it runs right into my rain barrels!

[sisterpine]

Then wont they have to tax the state or feds for all the roadways that dont absorb water?

[ovsfarm]

Can you drill a few holes in your driveway and call it "selectively porous"?

[Win07_351]

Originally Posted by Trixters_muse

Yeah we pay it here too. My water doesn't "run off" anywhere, it runs right into my rain barrels!

Maybe they'll tax your rain barrels too.

[TNHermit]

Originally Posted by Trixters_muse

Yeah we pay it here too. My water doesn't "run off" anywhere, it runs right into my rain barrels!

If I remember right in Colorado they can get you for stealing water LOL. It all belongs to about three cities. Even the stupid towns sold their water rights

[MO_cows]

When land gets developed and more and more of it gets paved over, runoff can be a problem. Chesapeake Bay is a very important body of water and deserves to be protected.

BUT they shouldn't need to create a whole new tax and bureaucracy to administer said tax. Just use the funds they already have, make this a priority. Or, propose a sales (consumption) tax to fund the conservation of the Bay. A fraction of a cent can raise millions.

I'd be ticked off about paying it, too. We have to pay a per-acre real estate tax assessment for our levee and drainage district (flood control). Even though our place is just a wee bit above the flood plain. We stayed dry during the floods of 1993 but there were times we looked a lot like an island.

[TheMartianChick]

My area doesn't have a tax to address rhe runoff problem. Instead, they have a program to encourage commercial entities to upgrade their properties to decrease runoff. Parking lots can be paved with traditional pavement panels that are tilted precisely to guide the runoff to underground storage/catchment areas.

Others opt to use porous pavement, though it creates greater maintenance issues and has to be vacuumed each year.

The county is able to offer the financial enticements for this program because so much money is saved by not having to treat all of that stormwater. Our program is considered to a model one for the nation and one that other municipalities are studying.

http://savetherain.us/

[Txrider]

They would have a revolt if they tried that here, we pray for any rain we can get and most of the lakes are at at or just recovering a little from historic low levels.

Our problem is the big cities are out here trying to get rights to suck the entire aquifers dry to feed new suburb developments 50-100 miles away from here.

[doodlemom]

Desperation in Maryland.
One bill would authorize a tax of about 25 cents per taxi trip. Another would impose a tax on billboard advertisements within the city limits — $15 per square foot for billboards that electronically change images, and $5 per square foot for those that don't.


Read more: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/mar...#ixzz2RG6cSd00

[myheaven]

I don't see how these jack wads aka. Representatives don't see they cause more and more people to leave. They are too blind with money hunger to see how ignorant they are. Now you know all this new tax money will not go to the storm water development project or treatment. You know it won't!

[Truckinguy]

I think people would have less of a problem paying a new small tax if we didn't have to constantly put up with examples of government waste of our money which pretty much enter criminal territory if it happened in the private sector. Governments bring in more than enough money to run themselves if the money was used properly.

[myheaven]

Why do we the people keep allowing this type of stuff? Can we stop them.