Issues

Proposed ‘trash tax' won't help sustain recycling, but would mean more money out of our pockets

Some state lawmakers are considering yet another new tax that could mean more money out of the pockets of Pennsylvanians already hit hard by the recession.

Under House Bill 1069, counties would be able to impose a tax on trash haulers of up to $4 per ton for municipal solid waste for municipal recycling programs. The haulers would then be allowed to pass the cost on to their residential and business customers.

This new tax not only would place increased financial burdens on small and large businesses, as well as the residents of this Commonwealth, during an economically difficult time, it would be a duplicative layer of taxation. Act 101 of 1988 already provides funding for municipal recycling programs and infrastructure through a $2 per ton statewide trash tax. This tax currently generates an estimated $49.1 million a year to the state recycling fund. The new tax would be a 200 percent increase!

And the larger issue may be that the tax prevents recycling programs from moving toward self-sufficiency, which was the goal of the legislature all along-lawmakers didn't intend to subsidize these programs indefinitely.

Successful recycling must eventually become financially self-sustainable. According to the newsletter of the Professional Recyclers of Pennsylvania, privatization of recycling in Mercer County has resulted in a 50 percent reduction in costs while privatization in Crawford County has resulted in a 65 percent reduction. The savings in Mercer County led the Sharon Herald to editorialize that "privatization done right can yield better services, cheaper."

This proposed new tax is a bad idea any way you look at it!

Contact your lawmakers and tell them to say "no" to higher trash taxes!