Letter to the Editor
Can proposal on beverage container "tax"
A rose by any other name is still a tax.
Our lawmakers are at it again.
They are proposing a can and bottle "deposit system."
They claim by adding a 10-cent to 20-cent prepaid deposit on all bottles and cans, our recycling rates will increase and litter will decrease.
Supposedly, the uncollected deposits will then go into a "fund" to pay for environmental projects.
The article does not mention which bureaucracy will administer this program.
Most likely a new bureaucracy will be created with its own commissioners and staff and all of the associated governmental perks and patronage jobs.
The $40 million to $50 million per year collected would, of course, be ripe for diverting to some other cause.
Can New Jersey possibly get any more expensive?
Grocery bills are high enough without adding new costs.
Currently, all my recyclables get picked up at my home.
If Trenton has it way, I will have the major inconvenience of transporting cans and bottles back to the store.
By my estimates, my family would pay approximately $175 a year in deposits. That's the equivalent of about 50 gallons of gas.
Call it what you like, but a "deposit system" is nothing short of a tax.
Remember the Paul Simon song "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover"?
Our lawmakers should pen a new version, "50 (and more) Ways To Tax Our Citizens."
If they spent as much time trying to decrease spending as they spend on creating new taxes, we would be much better off.
JACKIE DALY
Jackson
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080522/COMMUNITY/805220478
