Editor’s note: This commentary is a letter signed by Clean Green Sanitation, Gauthiers Trucking, Mr. Bults Inc. (MBI), Austin’s Rubbish & Roll-Off Service, Franklin & Son Rubbish Removal, Goodenough Rubbish Removal, Triple T Rubbish Removal, Casella Waste Management, Dave’s Rubbish Removal, Greenier’s Rubbish, Reed & Sons Rubbish Removal and Duffy’s Trash & Recycling Inc.
[N]o one likes to talk about raising your taxes, certainly most politicians and elected representatives.
But there’s a bill being discussed very quietly in Montpelier that raises taxes on an everyday activity, will cost you and your family money, and will deliver little visible benefit to Vermonters.
The tax is known as the state franchise tax. It’s a tax paid on every ton of waste generated in Vermont, and it’s currently $6 per ton. The bill under discussion would raise this tax on garbage to $10 or $12 per ton. The cost of this tax — paid by municipalities and haulers — is part of the cost of generating waste that impacts you and your family, and businesses in your community.
You pay this tax on top of a tax on trash of between $20 and $30 per ton imposed by many local solid waste management districts. These taxes represent between one-quarter and one-third of the cost of waste disposal in Vermont, and the proposed increase in the state franchise tax is intended to fund many of the same types of bureaucratic programs as the local tax.
This is a tax increase, plain and simple, that will make it more expensive for families and businesses to manage their waste.
Local solid waste districts (see above) already collect a significant amount of money through their own tax on trash. Shouldn’t projects and infrastructure be funded by this money first, before coming back to Vermont citizens asking for more?
The authors of this tax increase have promised that the tax will “sunset,” or go away after five years. How confident should we be that state government will voluntarily give up a source of revenue? The original $6 tax never went away, and was never really used as it was intended.
The bottom line? This is a tax increase, plain and simple, that will make it more expensive for families and businesses to manage their waste. It’s a tax increase that’s entirely unnecessary, other than to continue to fund a state bureaucracy and disguising it as an environmental benefit.
Let’s challenge government to use the money it already collects — in significant amounts at both the state and local level — more effectively, before it comes back for more.
Call or write your legislator today, and ask for a vote against H.602.
Clean Green Sanitation
Gauthiers Trucking
Mr. Bults Inc. (MBI)
Austin’s Rubbish & Roll-Off Service Franklin & Son Rubbish Removal Goodenough Rubbish Removal Triple T Rubbish Removal
Casella Waste Management
Dave’s Rubbish Removal Greenier’s Rubbish
Reed & Sons Rubbish Removal Duffy’s Trash & Recycling, Inc.
