This is really the most disingenuous thing I have ever heard of. Taxing people’s property and calling it a “user fee.”
I think the Republican legislators in this state should pass a law defining a rain tax or, if you will, an impervious surface tax as a tax. Government bureaucrats with judicial acquiescence have decided that if the tax is for a specific service of government exclusively, it can be called a user fee.
That may help the government bureaucrat sleep well at night, but it is still a tax.
Unlike my water bill, which goes up or down based on whether or not I use my water, this rain tax does not go up or down based on whether or not it rains. It only goes up or down if I add value to or take value away from my property.
And that, I think, is one of the nuggets for a good definition of a tax. Here is my draft suggestion that I hope some legislator reading this will work to enact as law:
Any monetary charge imposed by the state, county, or municipal governments or entities whose existence are derived therefrom that a citizen is unable to alter through his own actions except by adding value to or subtracting value from the citizen’s real or personal property must be called a tax.
You know, I understand that taxes must be raised in some cases at the local level to pay for infrastructure like sewer system and storm water system. I am not opposed to paying for those.
What I am opposed to is government bureaucrats trying to obfuscate what is going on and telling elected officials that they need to act quick before “businesses and churches find out”.
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I agree with you that a tax should be called a tax. Do you think that property owners in Macon should be assessed a special tax to pay for the city’s storm water system?
Just fyi, calling it a tax won’t make it deductible on your federal income taxes as a property tax because as described the tax is based on the physical condition of the owner’s land and not its assessed value.
hero, if taxes must be increased as the only option to pay for storm water, then it must be done. But I don’t think we need a special tax.
Here in self-consciously progressive Athens-Clarke County, we have had the privilege of paying a “stormwater utility fee” for years now. It was specifically structured as a “fee” rather than as a portion of property tax so as to encompass those property owners that are exempt from such taxes (churches, the Clarke County School District, UGA, etc. – so, yes we have the situation where one government is paying the fee to another, all courtesy of my tax dollars).
I pay the stormwater utility fee on my property, even though I live in the formerly unincorporated area of the county; my property is not connected to the Unified Government’s sewer system, my property does not drain into any property that is connected to the sewer system, and there are no stormwater drains anywhere my property. But I have to pay nonetheless.
In my view, the fee is a revenue device pure and simple. And, naturally, local officials blame it all on the feds.
As I understand it, some local property owners who have refused to pay the fee are about to do battle with the Unified Government in court.
We need Gov. Barnes.
I own a vacant property whuch has not had electricity or water hooked up to it since I bought it two years ago. Yes, I still have to pay a sewer service fee.
The reason they “need” a tax/user fee/payola, whatever you want to call it; the outrageous and improper spending of money. However, let’s assume the city is the model of fiscal responsibility, the citizens of that town are still paying obscene amounts of money to the federal government to pay for things the federal government has no business funding. If the citizens’ FEDERAL tax burden were lessened, the tax revenues to the city would go UP because of increased spending and such, the need for another tax may be either eliminated, or, at the least, minimized.
But, to answer the original question, “why tax it?” I submit the standard government answer, “because they can.”
The comments by Rojas ought to be on the front page and on every blog as his comments reflect the pure disdain for the tax paying public.
I am submitting an FOI thursday for the audio of this meeting. We’ll have some fun with it!
I was forwarded this article on the stormwater user fee. I would offer my services if you would like to discuss the issue of tax or user fee and mechanics of stormwater management at state and federal levels and how it relates to local government.
My doctorial dissertation was on the fundamentals of this subject.
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