I have said for at least 20 years that eventually we will be taxed on the air we breath. People thought I was crazy. Well, wonder if anyone of them has changed their mind?
In my town we have been taxed for the rain for dang near 20 years now. Essentially the charge is rainfall X square footage of roofing & paved surfaces, and they call it "storm water treatment". But there is no treatment. It is just a big ditch that drains into a lake, a ditch that was bought and paid for 100 years ago. And ducks, otters, and fish live in it (and poop in it, I assume).
Still, the fee for this "treatment" is quite significant - more than we pay for our sewage.
Now, don't be giving them no ideas about that air. We already have a Federal EPA and a state DEQ, but that county level Air Pollution Authority will go orgasmic at a minute's thought of the possibility they could put one more gun to our heads.