30 dollars to flush my own toilets...........

[Chain729]

Considering how lousy interest rates are, would you actually get enough interest to cover the cost of mailing it in?

Yes, its called "smart banking" and electronically doing your taxes- including payment.

 

[Oz]

How does commercial properties hooked to public sewer relate to my septic system? You're comparing apples to oranges. My septic fields don't got to a municiple system owned, managed and maintained by County or Town employees.

(How does...??? --anyway--)

The reason that is pertinent is because this tax started because the treatment facilities in Baltimore are polluting the Bay. So, the government was going to impose a flush tax on City water/sewer users statewide, and use the proceeds to upgrade the public sewer systems that are polluting the Bay. (You can't tax Baltimore alone, right? Make it statewide!) Then, that wasn't fair because all of the individual Septic system owners get off without paying a cent. So it became a statewide flush tax, imposed on every property owner. Those of us with septic tanks will pay the tax by one method, and those on public systems will pay it with their water/sewer bills.

Bottom line is that the $30 that individuals will pay is small change compared to the calculations they are imposing on commercial water/sewer users. So now, everyone in the State is going to pay to upgrade the old, polluting sewer treatment systems in Baltimore. And because its being done in the name of the Bay, it's good! No one can lobby against a cleaner Chesapeake Bay, huh?

Read up on it. There's so much more to this than your $30 flush tax. That's only the small change of it.

 

[Oz]

Pulled out my records from this year's legislative session on this:

This tax is the "Chesapeake Bay Watershed Restoration Fund" from HB555/SB320 from the 2004 Maryland Legislative Session. This fund is created within the Maryland Department of the Environment. The environmental surcharge is imposed on users of wastewater facilities. The residential charge is $2.50 per month (which is also the base for the septic system $30/year.) Non-Residential (ie. Business/Commercial users) will be surcharged based on the wastewater they generate at the rate of $2.50 per month for every 250 gallons, with a cap of 8000 EDU's. (Gee - a $20,000 dollar cap! THANKS!) It also establishes a Watershed Restoration Fund Advisory Committee, and specifies committee's terms/composition/duties...

Look for increased prices at restaurants, car washes, printers, and pretty much anywhere with more than 1 or 2 employees, which will quickly reach the EDU Cap.

But ultimately, as I said, the money generated will go to upgrade Baltimore's failing wastewater treatment facilities that are basically "taking a dump" in the Bay.