Posted on 03/31/2024 9:19:03 AM PDT by Twotone
Critics are blasting a "rain tax" Toronto is proposing to charge homeowners, Newsweek reported.
City officials are proposing to hit homeowners with a "stormwater charge" according to how much their properties' water runoff would impact the storm sewer system, the magazine said, adding that it's an attempt to encourage citizens to keep grass and plants on their properties rather than paving outdoor square footage.
Newsweek, citing Toronto city authorities, said the charge would be based on each property's hard surface area, including roofs, driveways, parking lots, and other concrete landscaping.
"Stormwater is rain and melted snow. When not absorbed into the ground, stormwater runs off hard surfaces onto streets, down storm drains, and through a network of pipes that carry it into local waterways," Toronto's city website says, according to Newsweek. "In urbanized areas like Toronto, there are a lot of hard surfaces. [...] Too much stormwater can overwhelm the city's sewer system, which can lead to flooded basements and impacts to surface water quality in Toronto's rivers, streams, and Lake Ontario's waterfront."
The proposal is eliciting annoyed reactions — such as from Donald Trump Jr.: "I'm sure it will end with the Rain Tax. They definitely won't just confiscate whatever they want in the not too distant future!!!"
Newsweek noted that Warren Kinsella, founder of political campaign strategy firm Daisy Consulting Group, penned an op-ed for the Toronto Sun. Kinsella opened his piece with a nine-word assault: "A rain tax. Seriously, they want to tax the rain."
Canadian Parliament member Kevin Vuong echoed Kinsella's words in an equally critical social media post: "Because people in #toronto aren't already struggling enough to make ends meet, the NDP's @Olivia Chow wants to implement: A rain tax. Seriously, they want to tax the rain."
Toronto is consulting the public about the proposed charge until April 30, the magazine said, adding that a report on the outcome of the public consultation is scheduled to be released this summer. If that ain't enough ...
Earlier this month, Toronto police endured serious backlash after telling residents to leave their car keys at the front doors of their homes for thieves to take in order to lessen the risk of residents being physically attacked for car keys in their homes.
“To prevent the possibility of being attacked in your home, leave your fobs at the front door because they are breaking into your home to steal your car; they don’t want anything else," a police official said. "A lot of them that they’re arresting have guns on them, and they are not toy guns. They are real guns. They’re loaded.”
They tried this here in the people’s Republic of Maryland.
Things like this always sound great to non-homeowners who have been promised a cut of the new revenues.
I was gonna say....pikers.
LOS ANGELES has done this for years.
Every surface that is considered NOT PERMEABLE has a Sq Ft tax on it. Even the tops of horse shelters at a boarding stable I once had my horses at.
every roof-—sidewalk (city owned, BTW) every driveway, patio, etc.
Long as I remember the rain been comin’ down
Clouds of mystery pourin’ confusion on the ground
Good men through the ages tryin’ to find the sun
And I wonder, still I wonder, who’ll stop the rain?
Officials desperately trying to feed their addiction to money.
What will the taxes run on a tarp in a homeless camp?
The joke has been they will tax the oxygen you breathe, but that will be next.
So Toronto wants to tax it, Oregon wants to own it. In both cases, landowners lose.
“Toronto is consulting the public” and afterwards will ignore the public and do whatever it pleases.
This one is really borderline violating the “Takings” clause. Existing properties should be grandfathered, because folks might have done things differently if they’d known this BS was coming.
Just a sneaky way of taxing property and leaving owners with the false illusion that they actually “own” it.
The ultimate goal is total confiscation of all private property and the means of production. (Except that of the ruling elite, which won’t have to suffer the same pain as the common herd).
One would hope but I have no faith in rational regulation coming from my state.
The PRM was a leader in getting taxes levied on internet transactions, after all.
We joke that any rain tax proposal in California is the Wet Dream of every city and county tax looters!
“In both cases, landowners lose.”
I’m curious if there is a contract to comfiscate water by the government and who signed it for God representation. God is the one that makes it rain. And if there is a drought, can they sue God for lack of fullfilling the contract and can the people being taxed be given a refund for non-supplied taxable items? Is taking water from rivers that cross state lines considered interstate commerce? Opens up Pandora’s box.
wy69
“In both cases, landowners lose.”
I’m curious if there is a contract to comfiscate water by the government and who signed it for God representation. God is the one that makes it rain. And if there is a drought, can they sue God for lack of fullfilling the contract and can the people being taxed be given a refund for non-supplied taxable items? Is taking water from rivers that cross state lines considered interstate commerce? Opens up Pandora’s box.
wy69
didn’t Martin OMalley try this in Maryland?
Whether you agree or disagree with the idea, they are not taxing rain, they are taxing concrete surfaces, because I doubt that the tax varies with rainfall. So if there’s a wet June and a bone dry July, you’d pay the tax in both.
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