Dear Source:
First of all what does this "Poison Tax" have to do with Waste Management? I have a small fuel efficient car but does that help? The answer is no. In 3 years time, the cost of filling my car has gone from $17.00 to $35.00. My car is mechanically working very well. You think more tax needs to be added to the current cost of gas? Start picking up other people who need a lift is a solution? Who do you think is going to agree to help pay for your gas on a regular basis and also towards the extra wear and tear on your car on these pothole riddled roads? Most people don't volunteer to help and some even act as if they are being put out if a driver asks for help with gas let alone considering the additional wear and tear on a vehicle. Most would make a justifiable argument in saying they don't know what else you do with your car when you are not giving them a ride and would think you are trying to charge them for all your car expenses.
With the amount of crime taking place, would it even be a safe option? The last time I picked up someone I knew to give a ride to, that someone pulled a knife on me asking for my purse. It took my swinging into the wrong lane, threatening to smash into the front of an oncoming truck or going over the side of the hill in order to get that person to jump out of my car. Did it ever occur to me someone I knew who I was helping out by giving a ride to, would do a thing like that? NO! Many crimes occur with victims who knew the criminal. I don't pick up anyone anymore unless it's immediate family. Your idea on this could cost me more for the expenses of my car in the long run and could possibly jeopardize safety.
If obesity was only related to sugar, it would be an easier problem to solve, both weight and health-wise. While many would not dare to respond to your comments in this area, I will. You are also assuming all obese persons are breaking the government's budget on health. I am an obese person. I have yet to see the government pay anything on my behalf. The last 3 doctors I have seen asked if I was a vegetarian because all the tests for cholesterol, diabetes, thyroid, hormones, high blood pressure, etc. have all been negative. If I were eating all the junk you assume all overweight people are eating these would not be negative. Most of the members of my extended family who are all under my weight have had one or a combination of the above medical problems.
What caused my problem? It was not getting exercise because of having to work 2 and 3 jobs, and eating my only meal of the day late at night for years on end. It's called the sole provider and single mother syndrome. It's called putting your children, your bills first, and yourself last when you live in an environment that the
cost of living exceeds what you can afford. It's called struggling to make ends meet from one paycheck to the next. If you don't realize how much of this is going on here with other mothers too, then your eyes are not open wide to the realities around you. We are the mothers that borderline right above not being able to get food stamp assistance, barely get or in some cased don't get any assistance at all from fathers, and don't make enough to include ourselves into the equation with the cost of living. We are already paying the price for being our families only sole providers and if we couldn't afford to add ourselves into the equation of always being able to eat nutritiously too, taxing us is going to solve what?
To put it very bluntly, I think your idea is crap, it is also prejudiced, and ignorant to all the factors that can affect obesity. Until you have walked in our shoes, you should think twice about being that judgemental.
Now let's get back to the issue of Waste Management. Spending 850,000 is ridiculous for consulting fees and the outcome being the idea of a EUF tax. How about going to the source of the problem to fix the problem, instead of outside of it? How about getting rid of the idiots who came up with the idea of throwing away that much money and the idea of a ridiculous non-realistic solution? On top of the waste of 850,000, which could have made a dent in the problems, there is also the waste of the salaries involved. How about ensuring Waste Management is running efficiently within itself, cutting down on any waste within it's own department's operations as a start.
Recycling has been going on for umpteen years in other areas and still can't be put together properly here? Businesses that attempted years ago to do recycling, went out of businesses because of lack of payments. How about establishing an efficient recycling program that would inspire people to go into the recycling business? How about ensuring they get paid on a timely basis so that they don't go under. Maybe the Government could exempt all recycling and garbage disposal businesses from the Gross Receipts Tax as an additional incentive for people to want to get into this type of business. This could replace the on-going costs of fuel so it wouldn't have to be passed on to the consumers.
Consumers could be offered several different choices that would not require Waste Management to employ a whole batch of new people. It would not require Waste Management to come up with roadside scales program either. They would just need to ensure they do their part in making sure recycling companies got paid on time if private companies did exist.
These are just some ideas that could be tossed into the pot.
1. If the consumer wants to be paid for their recycled garbage, then it would be their responsibility to take their own garbage in to a recycling place. (There should be various available locations across the islands to make these a reasonable option.) It would also help those who need extra income too.
2. If consumers wanted a garbage company to pick up their garbage that was already sorted out for recycling, then the consumer allows the garbage company to keep the fees when the garbage company takes it in to the recycling place. By doing this, the garbage company would not charge a pick up fee because their keeping all the recycling fees could cover the cost of pick up.
3. If the consumers did not want to be bothered to sort out their garbage for recycling, then the garbage company should be allowed to charge a reasonable fee for the pickup.
4. Any garbage that cannot be recycled should be disposed at the dump and a fee by weight could be charged at the time it is disposed.
5. The fees that are in places for items such a derelict vehicles stay in place as they are, making the owners of such responsible.
The idea of an imported weight base tax on imports is beyond ridiculous and should be illegal to even consider because the same weight that would be imported would not always eventually reach the dump. Every single empty container that holds food after food is eaten will not weigh the same at the time of disposal. A five gallon bucket of paint will not weigh the same after the paint is used. Many construction materials that remain in the construction of a building would never have had dumping weight issues at all. Every consumable item would either fall into the category of a much lesser weight at the time of disposal or no weight at all because it used in something that left nothing to be disposed.
Carol Berry
St. Thomas
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