This article (The RAIN TAX) at http://www.gazette.net got my blood boiling. The Federal government has found a way to tax the poor and the Churches with a WACKO RAIN TAX. This is nothing more then Highway robbery. The worst part is that bama and his cronies are stealing from the poor.
BAMA'S WACKO RAIN TAX
In 2010 the Obama administration’s Environmental Protection Agency(EPA) 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.
And where do we get the $14.8 billion? By taxing so-called “impervious surfaces,” anything that prevents rain water from seeping into the earth (roofs, driveways, patios, sidewalks, etc.) thereby causing stormwater run off. In other words, a rain tax.
And who levies this new rain tax? Witness how taxation, like rain, trickles down through the various pervious levels of government until it reaches the impervious level... The dwindling Middle Class.
The EPA ordered Maryland to FIND the money (an unfunded mandate), Maryland ordered its 10 largest counties to FIND the money (another unfunded mandate) and, now, each of those counties is putting a local rain tax in place by July 1.
So, if you live in Montgomery, Prince George’s, Howard, Anne Arundel, Carroll, Harford, Charles, Frederick, Baltimore counties or Baltimore city, you’ll be paying a rain tax on your next property tax bill.
Well, you ask, “How on earth can the government know how much impervious surface I own?” Answer: It’s not on earth, it’s in the sky. Thanks to satellite imagery and geographic information systems, Big Brother can measure your roof and driveway (and you thought drones were only used for killing terrorists).
OK, once the counties raise this money, how is it spent? (Don't you just love this part. When it comes to the money suddenly the thieves in Washington got all hazy and vague. Maybe we'll spend it on this, maybe we'll spend it on that. What ever feels good that the time) The state law is kind of squishy. It can be spent to build and maintain stream and wetland restoration projects. And, of course, a lot of it will go to “monitoring, inspection, enforcement, review of stormwater management plans and permit applications and mapping of impervious surfaces.” In other words, hiring more bureaucrats to administer the rain tax program.
It can also be spent on “public education and outreach” (whatever that means) and on “grants to nonprofit organizations” (i.e. to the greenies who pushed the tax through the various levels of government).
If I asked you to guess which Maryland county is already levying a rain tax on its citizens, you’d correctly answer “Montgomery,” the “more taxes, please” jurisdiction that collected a $17 million rain tax last year. So, since Montgomery County already has a rain tax in place (but only on residences) let’s take a peek at the future.
Here’s how Montgomery County is spending some of its rain tax:
“(The county) holds workshops and training events to help residents understand how various projects work. Projects such as rain gardens, conservation landscaping, rain barrels and cisterns, drywells and tree planting are then offered to be installed on properties that qualify, based on the County’s assessment.”
So, I’m supposed to pay a rain tax so the county can train me how to plant a tree, which they’ll give me if, in its view, I qualify? Have we all gone mad?
According to state officials, the 10 rain tax counties must raise $482 million a year to finance the $14.8 billion stormwater cleanup bonds by 2025. About 75 percent will come from homeowners and about 25 percent will come from non-residential property owners.
Credits and exemptions must be granted to property owners who already meet stormwater “best practices” standards. And the county governments can phase-in the rain tax levels (to get them past the next election). Most homeowners will pay around $100 a year (less if you live in an apartment or condo). But the rates may double or triple later.
It’s the nonresidential owners who are getting hit, annually, with five- and six-figure amounts because they own such large rooftops and parking lots (car dealerships, shopping centers, malls, office buildings, warehouses, etc.). Disclosure: My house has a driveway and a (sometimes) impervious roof, and I work for, and partly own, a commercial real estate company.
But homeowners are going to pay the rain tax three times. Once, on their homes. A second time because commercial leases force tenants pay the landlord’s property taxes, which the tenants will, then, pass on to their customers. And a third time as church members or supporters of nonprofit hospitals, private schools and charities.
OF COURSE!!! THE Slave Master's government-owned property is EXEMPT from the rain tax.
HOWEVER, the new RAIN TAX is imposed it on religious institutions and nonprofits. So now the Slave Masters have found a way to tax the Church. Think for a moment, the nonprofit organizations provide tens of MILLIONS of dollars of FREE essential services to the community. These FREE essential services come from very limited budgets.” says Mary Ellen Russell of the Maryland Catholic Conference.
So, while the Slave Masters are exempt from this WACKO RAIN TAX. It is the poor who will pay the most. It is the poor and needy who will be paying the Slave Tax TWICE by first paying an UNFAIR TAX, and SECOND by not getting proper medical care.
Isn't that wonderful Obama and his ilk can just make up a crazy wacko RAIN TAX and the people who can least afford to pay are the ones who will pay the most.
Add to that...Everyone must pay but the Government.
Hows that Change working for you now?
BAMA'S WACKO RAIN TAX
In 2010 the Obama administration’s Environmental Protection Agency(EPA) 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.
And where do we get the $14.8 billion? By taxing so-called “impervious surfaces,” anything that prevents rain water from seeping into the earth (roofs, driveways, patios, sidewalks, etc.) thereby causing stormwater run off. In other words, a rain tax.
And who levies this new rain tax? Witness how taxation, like rain, trickles down through the various pervious levels of government until it reaches the impervious level... The dwindling Middle Class.
The EPA ordered Maryland to FIND the money (an unfunded mandate), Maryland ordered its 10 largest counties to FIND the money (another unfunded mandate) and, now, each of those counties is putting a local rain tax in place by July 1.
So, if you live in Montgomery, Prince George’s, Howard, Anne Arundel, Carroll, Harford, Charles, Frederick, Baltimore counties or Baltimore city, you’ll be paying a rain tax on your next property tax bill.
Well, you ask, “How on earth can the government know how much impervious surface I own?” Answer: It’s not on earth, it’s in the sky. Thanks to satellite imagery and geographic information systems, Big Brother can measure your roof and driveway (and you thought drones were only used for killing terrorists).
OK, once the counties raise this money, how is it spent? (Don't you just love this part. When it comes to the money suddenly the thieves in Washington got all hazy and vague. Maybe we'll spend it on this, maybe we'll spend it on that. What ever feels good that the time) The state law is kind of squishy. It can be spent to build and maintain stream and wetland restoration projects. And, of course, a lot of it will go to “monitoring, inspection, enforcement, review of stormwater management plans and permit applications and mapping of impervious surfaces.” In other words, hiring more bureaucrats to administer the rain tax program.
It can also be spent on “public education and outreach” (whatever that means) and on “grants to nonprofit organizations” (i.e. to the greenies who pushed the tax through the various levels of government).
If I asked you to guess which Maryland county is already levying a rain tax on its citizens, you’d correctly answer “Montgomery,” the “more taxes, please” jurisdiction that collected a $17 million rain tax last year. So, since Montgomery County already has a rain tax in place (but only on residences) let’s take a peek at the future.
Here’s how Montgomery County is spending some of its rain tax:
“(The county) holds workshops and training events to help residents understand how various projects work. Projects such as rain gardens, conservation landscaping, rain barrels and cisterns, drywells and tree planting are then offered to be installed on properties that qualify, based on the County’s assessment.”
So, I’m supposed to pay a rain tax so the county can train me how to plant a tree, which they’ll give me if, in its view, I qualify? Have we all gone mad?
According to state officials, the 10 rain tax counties must raise $482 million a year to finance the $14.8 billion stormwater cleanup bonds by 2025. About 75 percent will come from homeowners and about 25 percent will come from non-residential property owners.
Credits and exemptions must be granted to property owners who already meet stormwater “best practices” standards. And the county governments can phase-in the rain tax levels (to get them past the next election). Most homeowners will pay around $100 a year (less if you live in an apartment or condo). But the rates may double or triple later.
It’s the nonresidential owners who are getting hit, annually, with five- and six-figure amounts because they own such large rooftops and parking lots (car dealerships, shopping centers, malls, office buildings, warehouses, etc.). Disclosure: My house has a driveway and a (sometimes) impervious roof, and I work for, and partly own, a commercial real estate company.
But homeowners are going to pay the rain tax three times. Once, on their homes. A second time because commercial leases force tenants pay the landlord’s property taxes, which the tenants will, then, pass on to their customers. And a third time as church members or supporters of nonprofit hospitals, private schools and charities.
OF COURSE!!! THE Slave Master's government-owned property is EXEMPT from the rain tax.
HOWEVER, the new RAIN TAX is imposed it on religious institutions and nonprofits. So now the Slave Masters have found a way to tax the Church. Think for a moment, the nonprofit organizations provide tens of MILLIONS of dollars of FREE essential services to the community. These FREE essential services come from very limited budgets.” says Mary Ellen Russell of the Maryland Catholic Conference.
So, while the Slave Masters are exempt from this WACKO RAIN TAX. It is the poor who will pay the most. It is the poor and needy who will be paying the Slave Tax TWICE by first paying an UNFAIR TAX, and SECOND by not getting proper medical care.
Isn't that wonderful Obama and his ilk can just make up a crazy wacko RAIN TAX and the people who can least afford to pay are the ones who will pay the most.
Add to that...Everyone must pay but the Government.
Hows that Change working for you now?
