Already having signed hundreds of millions of dollars in tax hikes on working New Jersey families into law, far-left Democrat Governor Phil Murphy isn’t satisfied. Now he’s even trying to tax the rain.
Murphy is calling for a new law that would allow all 565 of New Jersey’s municipalities to set up their own public stormwater utilities, whose infrastructure would be paid for through new taxes on families and businesses throughout the Garden State. State authorities say that the proposal could carry a price-tag in the billions that New Jersey taxpayers would foot the bill for.
Murphy isn’t the first Democrat governor to call for a tax on the rain, Martin O’Malley imposed such a measure on Maryland taxpayers in 2012. Two years later, voters were so furious with O’Malley’s tax that they elected a Republican, Larry Hogan, to replace him. New Jersey may do the same in 2021 if Murphy continues to follow O’Malley’s lead.
“Saving money for a rainy day isn’t just a good idea in New Jersey — it’s about to become the law.
Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy is poised to sign a ‘rain tax’ bill passed by the state legislature Jan. 31 — and Republicans and lots of taxpayers are howling with rage.
‘Every time you think there’s nothing left to tax, we come up with something else,’ Assemblyman Hal Wirths (R-Morris-Sussex) exploded during a debate on the measure.
‘It’s just never-ending down here.’
The law allows each of the state’s 565 municipalities to set up its own public stormwater utility. The new bureaucracies will build and manage sewer systems to treat pollutant-filled stormwater runoff.
The infrastructure could cost billions, state authorities say. Under the law, the utilities can levy steep fees on properties with large parking lots, long driveways, or big buildings — which create the most runoff.
The state would scoop up 5 percent of the proceeds.
The idea for the new fee goes back to 2010, when President Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency ordered states whose rivers and streams flow into the Chesapeake Bay to drastically cut sediment pollution.
Maryland was the first to fall into line, with a 2012 law that charged cleanup costs to property owners — and sparked taxpayer fury. Republican Larry Hogan’s promise to repeal the ‘rain tax’ helped sweep him into the governor’s mansion in 2014.”
