Years of Work Result in Water Infrastructure Bill
Yesterday Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) introduced H.R.3203, the Water Protection and Reinvestment Act. We know this as the Clean Water Trust Fund!
Here‚ how the Fund would work:
The Water Protection and Reinvestment Trust Fund would be established in the U.S. Treasury. Money from the Trust Fund would be distributed to the states for loans and grants to localities that need to make repairs, improvements, or build new infrastructure. At the same time, the bill allocates funding for green infrastructure and prohibits the funds being spent on sprawl.
The Fund would receive a yearly appropriation from four dedicated taxes. Those taxes would be: a 4-cent-per-container wholesale tax on ‚water-based beverages;” a product disposal fee of 3% of the wholesale price of ‚flushable” products including toilet paper, soap, detergents, water softeners, and cooking oils; a 0.5% tax on the wholesale price of pharmaceuticals; and a 0.15% corporate income tax on companies whose alternative minimum tax income exceeds $4 million. Taken together these taxes and fees should generate between $12 billion and $13 billion a year for the fund.
To put those figures in perspective, consider that the water infrastructure appropriations passed by the House just last month equals $3.9 billion. That $3.9 billion represents a roughly 157% increase over funding in 2009 but is only one third of what the Trust Fund would provide.
With a $22 billion a year funding gap for water infrastructure, we cant wait any longer. We need this trust fund now! See our statement from Executive Director Wenonah Hauter.
Water Policy Analyst
Hi Mitch,
I most definately agree with taxing bottled water users. The government is doing a study to see what exactly is in this bottled water. Finally, we’ll know what’s in this water, and where it comes from. I use a Purr filter on my well tap water, and I feel completely safe drinking my own water.
I am however, against the tax on the necessities like toilet paper, detergents, etc. I feel we are already paying way too much in taxes in this country, and the money should come from taxes already paid. What do they do with all that money? If the government was run the way we run our homes, they would probably be able to put some in the bank for a rainy day. They spend and give away our tax money like there is no end to the pot of gold. I’d like to see more of our tax money spent on helping the people who pay the taxes.
I firmly believe that we here in the U.S., and also the Continent we’re on, should have access to clean water from our own faucets. I believe very strongly we should not sell our water to corporate bottlers that are our to make a profit. Community water systems, either wells or public waterways, should stay within their own communities and never extracted and bottled and sold for profit.