[CPEO-MEF] The military and Maryland's "flush tax"

[lsiegel@cpeo.org]

Navy says it's exempt from Md. 'flush tax'

Military exempt, counsel says, challenging state to show it's really a
fee; Bay cleanup revenue at stake; Environmental officials say everyone
should help

By Rona Kobell
Baltimore Sun 
January 15, 2005

The U.S. Navy is challenging whether it must pay the governor's new
"flush tax" at its numerous facilities in Maryland - a move that could
prompt all military installations and federal agencies in the state to
do the same and create a major funding shortfall for the landmark legislation.

The Navy contends that the surcharge, designed to raise about $65
million to pay for upgrades to sewage treatment plants statewide, is
indeed a tax and not a user fee, as the Ehrlich administration insists.
Navy officials say they are exempt from such taxes.

"Based upon our legal analysis, we believe that the environmental
surcharge meets the definition of a classic tax," said Cmdr. Dominick
Yacono, regional environmental counsel for the Navy's mid-Atlantic
command in Norfolk, Va.

"If the environmental surcharge is a tax, the U.S. Supreme Court has
clearly stated that the federal government is not subject to any form of
taxation by a state or political subdivision in the absence of express
congressional intent."

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-te.md.flush15jan15,1,2554989.story?coll=bal-local-headlines&ctrack=3&cset=true
You may need to cut and paste the URL.
-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org
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