From Del. Kathy Szeliga:
Your Bill is How Much?!?!
I’ve been getting reports of HUGE rain tax bills from friends who own commercial property. It’s thousands and tens of thousands of dollars with no advance notification!
Are you a commercial property owner with a huge bill? If so, I’d like to hear from you.
Please send me an email with your name, commercial business name, property address and rain tax bill.
In order to fight this fight, we must let the public know how businesses of all sizes, but especially small family businesses, simply cannot afford to pay these exorbitant rain tax bills. Business cannot print money like they do in Washington DC.
I NEED YOUR HELP TO FIGHT THIS BATTLE!
Thanks for your continued support and prayers. I will keep you updated on this important issue as more information is made available.
As always, do not hesitate to call me if I can be of assistance to you and your family.
Kathy
Delegate Kathy Szeliga
Minority Whip
Maryland House of Delegates
Hey Delegate Szeliga, no prayers from this constituent (we are not a Theocracy), but PLEASE stop using “my” Dagger for your political platform.
“When it’s raining…..they run and hide their heads” (Lennnor-McCartney) 🙂
Hey Justin (aka Dickhead),
You don’t personally own the Dagger, so if you don’t like what Delegate Kathy Szeliga has to say then go somewhere else to get your news, information and opinion. It is still a free country jackass.
@Justin A. Glimmer
Not your Dagger. This blog is privately owned.
Oh, an elected officials are free to profess religion, ask for prayers or not.
No S*#t Sherlocks (Luther and Pilkington). I REALLY didn’t realize that I didn’t “own” The Dagger!
Oh….and “Luther” you can suck on my (name that you called me!)
That was uncalled for which shows you have no class.
Can you imagine the tax on the harford mall?? Got to be huge….
To have an opinion on the huge tax bills I need to know two things, first, how much is that huge tax bill and second, what percentage of the profit of that business is the bill.
Calling it a rain tax is very misleading. Rain isn’t being taxed; storm water run-off is. What ideas does Szeliga have to make the bay clean?
What does the “percentage of profit” have to do with whether a tax is “huge?” One question I notice you didn’t ask was, How much money did the proprietor of said business invest and put at risk????????????? That is what everyone seems to forget about the “greedy business owners.”
as a Small business owner myself-it gets irritating…. People only want to know how much I make but they never ask me how much I invested in money and sweat and how much I have at risk…
ditto my friend –
Let us discuss business taxes, shall we?
First, there is income tax. Basically a tax at a progressive rate on net earnings. Then, we find (like in the case of Harford Mall) property tax. Then there is a business license. You also have personal property tax. As an employeer you have the other half of FICA tax. Depending upon type of business, there may be regulatory fees. If you were in PA, perhaps a local services tax, or school tax, or maybe a business privilege tax (yes in PA they tax you for the “privilege” of being in business in some places). If you’re in VA, they tax personalty. Some jurisdictions in other states require a franchise tax (on top of your income tax). Now…a natural process, known as rain, is going to be arbitrarily taxed based on acreage and usage. Plus, you pay sales tax on office supplies. Lets say you have a vendor and purchase from out of state, then you are responsible for filing sales and use tax with your state for the neglected charge.
This is not an exhaustive list. The cost of doing business should astound people, yet the ignorant here, are absolutely clueless. Knowing what I’ve learned over the years from working in the real world, the cost of these filings (and associated fees and assessments that go with them), could go to hiring at least a few extra employees to dozens of employees.
These problems need to be addressed, and not by more senseless revenue acts that will just “go to raising funds to study the bay and coming up with solutions to ‘clean it up.'”
Want to clean up the bay? I’ve been hearing that for the last 20+ years, still haven’t seen one thing done to positively impact the bay, yet how many times a year is there a sewage spill into the Jones Falls, or how much sediment actually comes down from NY and PA? Are the Amish going to pay for this rain tax with their tilled fields? (Not besmirching the Amish, just showing the absurdity of this).
Look, want to argue on the merits, I’m all about that, but let’s not mince words here; this is a tax in the form of nothing but more direct revenue. If there were any trust for “taxing the rain,” it would actually go directly into a “TRUST FUND” (you know, like the supposed gas tax).
More lip service from state/local politicians on cleaning up the bay, based on yet another unfunded mandate by the Federal Government and a tyrannical EPA. Hostages on our own land!
Wouldn’t know where to begin “fact checking” biased opinionated people like “FightinBluHen51, so I won’t. YOU are the one that is “ignorant and absolutely clueless”! The Chesapeake Bay would be DEAD, if not for the restrictions and regulations enacted over the past “20+” years. Part of the problem is unregulated (or under-regulated) farmers in New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland, but another big part is ever-increasing development (and the associated impervious areas and sewage effluent) in the Bay’s watershed. SIMPLE! (and you probably don’t believe in global warming either)……..
You are right WTF…I don’t believe in Goreble…errrr I mean Global Warming.
You can “fact check” me all you want, but why did the MDGA pass a bill that was a “general revenue” bill, and why did some counties decide to assess it as a general/annual fee as a surcharge on your property tax bill and then assign it to their general funds? Why did the politicians say “we need to study and come up with solutions.” Haven’t they been “studying” the bay for the last 20+ years?
Before you go spouting out your pie hole orifice, you should really educate yourself. Again…this was nothing more than an unfunded mandate by the EPA which has been assuaging property rights, unfettered, for the last 20 years (thank you Dick Nixon).
Sorry Mr. (or Ms., or Mrs., since I’m an equal opportunity hater/educator), WTF, but as an avid sportsman, fisherman, outdoor enthusiast, I can assure you I have paid more excise tax on items purchased, funds donated to, or organizations joined, along with purchases of Federal Waterfowl Stamps, hunting/fishing licenses ect, than most of the “you don’t believe in global warming?!?!” types.
So, please, by all means…fact check away…I’ll be right here. (But we all know you won’t).
Taxes are not the only expenses that effect the profitability of a business! These tax and spend morons have no idea what it costs to own and operate a business, nor do they care.
BTW – you left off inventory tax.
There are additional expenses such as health care, accountant’s fees, computer equipment and maintenance fees, workers compensation insurance, water, sewer and electricity, security system and/or staff, material handling equipment and maintenance costs, landscaping, telecommunications; including phone, cell phones, internet, email, etc., fuel, business insurance, disaster insurance, building lease cost………………..I am sure I left of a few.
What is “storm water runoff”? If I’m not mistaken it comes from RAIN. So calling it a “rain tax” sounds perfectly fine to me. Unless you know of some other source of storm water runoff.
Unless you have an option to capture and manage ( evaporate? ) rain water and *not* pay the tax, it most certainly is a rain tax.
They call it a rain tax because it makes it seem ridiculous. I’m actually not against it because as a conservative and believing wholeheartedly on conservation this might be one of few “fees” that it makes sense to support. Falls under the basic premise of “want less of something tax it, more of something subsidize it”. Rechanneling water from these multi-acre parking lots into culverts and other low areas is damaging the environment because the parking lots are filthy and full of grease not to mention asphalt itself is choke full of oil. It’ll be expensive for the mall, the Walmart, the Target and most other big box style stores. Wanna wreck our waterways to turn a buck you ought to pay out the wazoo.
Citizen and Money Tree: One big thing would be to ban treating your lawn—-do you? Alot of that “weed and feed” runs right into the bay and makes the bad seagrass grow and choke out the oxygen… It’s not just the corporations that are killing the bay. Want to have a green lawn–you out to pay out the wazoo too..
I do not put anything on my lawn…no grub killers, fertilizers. Absolutely nothing added. Also don’t have an asphalt driveway – it’s pea gravel. I get weeds in the driveway in spring and if they’re big ugly ones I wait for a pretty good rain to soften everything up and pull them by hand. We do mow but we leave the clippings down to help fortify the soil. Fact is bugs will occasionally eat your flowers – buy more hardly native plants and you can make a nearly maintenance free landscape that may just provide the nectars and berries wildlife needs without spraying crap on a bunch of fussy plants.
Well there you go then… Nice job… You save alot of money too by not buying all those chemicals…
Lots of money sure, but not so much time. Right now on Japanese Beetle patrol. You gotta stay at it, hand pick em’ and squish em’. It is easier to spray no doubt but I like lightning bugs and if you poison the ground you’ll lose them too. If everyone would do their part maybe these fees wouldn’t be necessary but frankly I find most people so environmentally illiterate it’s disturbing. Why would you move to a rural area if you hate bugs so much you spray poisons to kill them?
I kinda of agree with your suggestion though. There are some pretty big lawns in Fallston that are so ridiculous – 10 acress meticulously mowed and almost unnaturally emerald green. Nothing wrong with caring about your lawn but why not leave 9 acres a pretty meadow and have that fussy stuff right around your house. You only need that buffer to keep down the mice and snakes. It always seems so dumb to me – if you want a great big lot why try so hard to make it seem like a green parking lot. Let it go a little bit or don’t buy the great big lot.
I thought people making their own choices and living with them is what you were about?
Not asking for a law to be passed; just an observation. Why have a huge treeless, meticulously mowed lawn that nobody sits, walks, throws baseballs, plays crouque…nothing, nada. Seems like such a silly waste of space. It would be a much more responsible effort to change the frame of mind like they’ve done on many golf courses. Look at the lovely grasses and plants on the “rough” areas of Winters Run. That went in a couple years ago and not only does it save them money, it buffers the creeks, and frankly looks a whole lot better. Winters Run deserves an “attaboy” for completely altering the way they manage that course. Notice the bluebird nests and meadow grasses next time you drive by.
And who do you think will pay for it in the end? The big box stores? LOL!
Yeah! YEAH! Punish those evil, temporary, entry level job creators that make a buck off killing the birds, the bees, the trees, save that WHALE, watch out for that snail!
Really? You honest to whatever higher power you believe in (or don’t believe in) that these stores, or Harford Mall will pay these fees? Can you say, “gross margin?” No, I doubt you can, which means that inflation through taxation will move in to drive costs higher on products.
Look folks, I’m all about being good stewards to the environment, but at a personal level. I can’t help it, but I am not going to nanny nancy my neighbor over whether he wants a meadow on his 10 acres, along with sustainable living items like a green house, chicken coupe, solar panels, and a small pond, or if he wants it to be the Amen Corner at Augusta National.
By all means, save the bay, but if you really want to force these business / landowners to manage their runoff, mandate that they fund design and construction of their lots and make them personally responsible for, oh, geez, I don’t know, THEIR PROPERTY, and no one else’s.
That’s all I’ve got for this…the stupid astounds.
I’m totally with you on most of what you said and the part about passing on costs is completely true. Unfortunately developers have bought and paid for most of our leaders so any care or concern for the environment is merely lip service with no teeth so sadly not sure what else we can do to alter behaviors. I abhor taxes and silly fees, but I have real doubts you’ll get much cooperation from very many if it means changing or tempering thier life styles one iota. People change what they do when it costs them money…if something doesn’t hurt it’s inertia. I’m happy about the septic upgrade requirements and this tax because it will force some to give pause. The Chesapeake Bay matters, it’s been there for millenia and it’s not our right to turn it into a cesspool in basically just a single century.
The Money Tree: Self professed bastion of conservative anti-government goodness.
Now you are pro fees/taxes?
I suppose when it supports your own pet interest it is good, otherwise it is pure evil.
ie. taxes to pay teachers
Look up the word “conserve”. I don’t support waste in government and I don’t support unions, including the teachers union. Get rid of your union and quit hiding behind it and we can begin to pay the teachers that do extraordinary work what they deserve. I think open space and clear water is important – gotta problem with that?
Since you brought it up….
What percent of the teachers in HCPS do you qualify as “teachers that do extraordiary work”? 50%? 60% 90%? 95%? What makes you more qualified than the school administrators who have already deemed more than 95% of the teachers in HCPS as performing effectively? It must be the pesky union that is forcing administratotors to evaluate teachers so leniently (if you only knew how little influence the union has in a teacher’s evaluation it might actually make you support the teacher’s union!)
Lastly, what salary do these “teachers that do extraordiary work” deserve?
Wrong thread for the never ending disagreements about HCEA and the unions.
Like I said…you brought it up. So why don’t you clarify your statements by answering my questions…if not here, on the appropriate thread.
No dear – you brought it up.
That’s what I thought. These questions have been asked of you before and you never answer them. That is because you are a selfish douche who does not want to fund public education at all, regardless of your pathetic attampts at patronization. The negative attitude that you and those like you have towards education is dispicable. I’ll be sure to tell my students that because a few of them are ineffective, none of them are going to be rewarded for their hard work. Oh wait, I can hear your response…”the union wants to reward all teachers, regardless of effectiveness, and protect the ineffective ones.” You are also retarded. The union wants administrators to evaluate teachers, assist those that struggle, and terminate those that are repeatedly ineffective. Again, in case you forgot, you are a douche.
I’m going to refrain from suggesting you learn to spell.
And I’m going to again tell you that you are a douche.
My rainwater runs off the roof where most of it is caught in rainwater collectors or soaks into the ground. If our brain dead politicians in Harford Co. would have insisted on stormwater management ponds when they were letting developers run amok this would have never become a problem. Does anyone really know where this rain tax money is going and what it will really be spent on. Sounds like a Democrat slush fund to me.
All the pollution comes from up north in New York and Pa, politicians can’t figure that out. They have to stick us with this ridiculous bill. How about forcing those up north to do something.
Maryland can do what ever it wants to do to “protect the bay”, but where is the #1 source of fresh water for the bay? The Susquehanna River, and until the states that drain in to the river start to do some of things necessary to help save the bay Maryland is wasting time and money.
Natural fresh water from rivers and streams is not the problem it’s the run off from rain that is. I have a natural spring in my back yard that flows into deer creek and ultimately to the bay. It runs clear, fresh and cool everyday but when it rains it’s a muddy polluted mess.
And where does run off from rains from Pennsylvania and New York go? The “fresh” water of the Susquehanna River. My god you guys have to stop spinning everything and face reality, No clean Susquehanna River NO clean Chesapeake Bay and more money and time wasted by Maryland.
Mud isn’t pollution
All the pollution does not come from PA and NY, but a lot does. Politicians have little control over any state but their own. I, too, do not put chemicals on my lawn. I just put in a driveway made of pavers with gravel so rain water will not run off. I have not taken a position on the effect of the tax on businesses. I said I do not have enough information. From this forum, I still do not have enough information. How much money are we talking about? As for small businesses, my son-in-law has a very small business. He parks on gravel. I am very concerned about small businesses. (Crabbers are also small businesses.) Again, my question is, what solutions do you suggest?
I bet we disagree on mostly everything but thanks for taking personal action and making a better choice for the environment. Little things matter – choice of materials matter. I find the gravel more rustic and natural…doesn’t look bad at all and the birds peck at it. Think they need small stones for the gizzard and digestion. There is a give and take – Walmart pays a fee and they (hopefully) use that money to good use and specifically for programs to clean the bay. Those efforts keep crabbers and fisherman in business too and our ability to sample the fabulous food that we who live around the bay are spoiled to enjoy. July in MD is heaven…crabs, corn and tomatoes. Nothing better on the planet.
Delegate Kathy Szeliga you should have the biggest single polluters send in their tax bills too…. The farmers especially the dairy farmers of the county.
Ever see a dairy farm without a stream running through it and cows standing in it pooping 24/7?
Oh my it looks like someone figured out the farmers aren’t paying the rain tax…..
rain tax? what is next, Air tax?
It was a national law passed by the glorious Obama that is to be paid by the states.
If you want to know what farmers are required to regarding the bay, read this publication: http://mda.maryland.gov/Documents/farmpermitguide.pdf
BTW, thank you Money Tree. I wanted to use oyster shells for my driveway but it was more expensive than I thought it would be.
WONDERFUL Post.appreciate your share… expecting more.