The American Revolution gave birth to the claim of "no taxation without representation," but now, in the year 2013, with the new rain tax in state of Maryland, it is taxation with representation.
The rain tax, which is being dubbed as the "storm management fee," was passed by the state legislature in 2012, and will go into effect following a decree from Democrat Gov. Martin O'Malley.
However, this tax isn't the fault of he governor, it has everything to do with President Barack Obama and his Environmental Protection Agency, who in 2010 order 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," according to Yahoo.
The question becomes, how does a state get that type of money when the federal government will not fund you?
Answer, taxing its constituency.
That is exactly what O'Malley decided to do and the 10 areas that will be affected by the "rain tax" are Montgomery, Prince George's, Howard, Anne Arundel, Carroll, Hartford, Charles, Frederick, Baltimore counties, and Baltimore city.
"Fees will be calculated on the surface area of properties as the theory is that roofs, driveways and carparks create more potential for drainage problems and water contamination," Metro explained. "Councils are supposed to determine how much to charge per square foot, but the fee depends on the size of the building and surrounding paved surfaces."
To know where the "impervious surfaces" are, the Gazetta states: "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)."
Meaning, the state will be using satellite imagery to calculate "storm management" fees.
As far as how the money collected will or can be used, the Gazetta said, "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."
Adding, "it can also be spent on "public education and outreach" (whatever that means) and on grants to nonprofit organizations"
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