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

On 3/31/2024 11:40 AM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:

Sat, 30 Mar 2024 23:06:46 -0700 anim8rfsk <anim8rfsk@cox.net>:

 

. . .

 

My ex has a swimming pool and a lot of foliage in their backyard.
Every year they have to go down and protest their gigantic sewer bill
– thousands of dollars – that is based on the assumption that all
water used goes down the drain.  They assess us something like one
sixth our water bill for sewer.

 

That is truly depraved! Surely, there is some evaporation from the
pool and the rest of the water stays in the pool. Charging them as if it
went down the drain is obscene. Has anyone ever tried to fight this?

 
How? Taxes and fees have do not measure consumption nor benefit and they
are never fair. It's fairly common that sewer charges are simply
surcharges on water bills. The fact that water exiting the house into
the main drain to the sanitary sewer isn't measured is of no interest.
 
There's typically a second surcharge for "infiltration" which is all the
water that enters the sanitary sewer that cannot be related to water
bills. That has absolutely nothing to do with you.

 
The really stupid part of all this is they should have simply increased
the sewage fee WITHOUT saying "this is a new charge for being rained
on".  People would have grumbled for a bit and paid but the way this was
handled apparently comes across as a punishment for the weather.
 
Thought, would this new "rain tax" apply to a home lot entirely covered
by a geodesic dome, diverting away before it reaches the property?  :P