I think this goes in the “Let’s make up a problem to solve” file.
The New Hampshire House…for clarity that means Democrats, just passed a tax on paint.
Retailers will be required by law to assess this tax to be determined by the Paint-tax-Tsar on every container of interior or exterior paint that is 5 gallons or less.
The money will be used to finance a new bureaucracy whose role it will be to collect unused paint and paint containers and to steward them to an environmental Nirvana.
My town dump does that already without another tax for a Paint Stewardship Program.
Here are the particulars of the program’s goals.
(1) A reduction in the generation of unwanted paint and the promotion of its reuse and recycling;
(2) Provision of convenient and available statewide collection of post-consumer paint from retail or municipalities covered by the program in all areas of the state;
(3) Management of post-consumer paint using environmentally sound management practices in an economically sound manner, including following the paint waste management hierarchy of source reduction, reuse, recycling, energy recovery, and disposal;
(4) Establishment of a process for managing paint containers collected under the program, including recycling all recyclable containers;
(5) A description of how consolidation facilities in the state accepting materials under this chapter will meet all applicable local, state, and federal requirements relative to the consolidation of such materials; and
(6) Recommendation for an appropriate funding mechanism for the program.
(7) A description of how collection points will be located in order to have a collection point for every one in 30,000 people and one collection point in 15 miles to achieve 90 percent coverage of the state.
Go read the bill and see if you can figure out how much this is gonna cost us. The Fiscal note estimates that once in place it will cost to $100,000.00 dollars per year to maintain this program.
H/T Bill O’Brien
