Insanity Reigns... I mean... Rains

[Stargazer]

This was brought to my attention by a family member who has a friend currently residing in MD (but probably not much longer).

Maryland Democratic Governor Martin O’Malley has instituted a tax on citizens for the amount of rain that falls on their property.....

....The law "requires individuals, businesses, and even charitable organizations and houses of worship to pay a tax based on the amount of rain that falls on their property and the 'impervious surfaces' on their land," he says.

The tax, mandated by the EPA and enforced locally, will be calculated "through satellite surveillance of your property," the statement claims.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Governm...nor-taxes-rain

Just when I thought it couldn't get anymore ridiculous... I am proven wrong.

[Sohei]

My state certainly has its own problems, but after reading things like this, I have to say that I really don't have it as bad as some do.

[mark46th]

Not an issue here in So California- We have half our annual rainfall... Friends of mine in the cattle business have sold most of their stock 3 months early because there is no grass growing...

[Stargazer]

Originally Posted by mark46th

Not an issue here in So California- We have half our annual rainfall... Friends of mine in the cattle business have sold most of their stock 3 months early because there is no grass growing...

If MD can tax rain, CA can tax dust.... afterall, dust is an environmental issue that impacts the quality of the air....

[BryanK]

2 weeks ago in Howard County, MD they passed a "storm water" tax to fund storm water restoration projects (Baltimore Sun story on that here). I thought that was the only county doing such a thing, but apparently not. The article by Gazette.net here points out the fact that the obama administration started this ball rolling.

Snip:

...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.