Re: 'OT] Are you ready for rain tax?

On Sat, 30 Mar 2024 21:08:10 -0400, Rhino
<no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:

Yeah, that's right, a tax on home owners that is levied every time in
rains. It's coming to Toronto and, according to the comments under this
video, is already being levied in other Canadian cities, like Halifax.
>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77rYL5OHFdE [6 minutes]
>
The video starts by pointing out the immense damage done to a solar
farm in Texas by hail. They mention that neighbours of this solar farm
are concerned that the toxic materials in the broken solar panels,
especially cadmium telluride, will leach into the groundwater and
poison everyone accessing that water.

Yeah, that's an issue any time we build anything if there is anything
harmful inside and we let it rot or get damaged and don't repair it.
So why wouldn't you just tax the owners of the solar farms to cover
any costs associated with the broken solar panels?

At about 4:15, they finally get to Toronto and point out the proposed
rain tax. They also mention the existing tax that is levied on
Torontonians that collect rainwater. (And no, I'm not clear on how they
determine that people are collecting rainwater and what volumes they
are collecting.) Apparently, homeowners are assessed tax for the amount
of non-porous surfaces they have on their property, like roofs,
driveways, and concrete patios, on the theory that rain landing on
these surfaces will end up in the sewers, which somehow makes it
necessary to charge homeowners for what they allow to reach the sewers.

Um, I hate to point this out for fear they take it into account, but
in any city that can get significant rainfall the water is going to
soak into the porous ground and then start heading to the sewers. I
see it here every time it rains. Though the problem is here is that
much of the soil is full of clay which tends to only absorb water on
the top layer and then let the rest run off. Toronto should have
better soil that will absorb more water but still run off is going to
be an issue.

So who makes the decision on how much each property owner should pay
in tax and just how much is their salary? Better to just increase the
water/sewer taxes and avoid all of this addition infrastructure to
track run off.

Can we fire these imbeciles yet?