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 In 1896, Illinois State Attorney General, Robert G. Ingersoll (a Republican) said:
"Don't you know that if people could bottle the air, they would? ... there would be an American Air-Bottling Association. ... they would let millions die for want of breath, if they could not pay for the air."
A century and a bit later, the American Air-Bottling Association has not, yet, become a reality but today there truly are fees for everything and today fees have become the Republican party's preferred method of taxation. Today, bottled water is common and water privatization has become a global issue. Today air can be bottled, but the potential air-bottlers have not yet figured out how to deny the public access to free atmospheric air. Today a walk in a National Forest is no longer free because people have figured out how to deny access to formerly-free public lands.
Pasted below is a "Special Report" from New York Daily news titled "City, state hike fees for everything but breathing." In just a few words it drives home the point that today there are, indeed, fees for everything but breathing. I'd just add that when it becomes possible to deny the public access to clean, fresh air, those who have the ability to charge for air will, without hesitation, let those without the money to pay for air die. That is the way of the market.
Scott
--- begin quoted ---
October 13th 2007
Special Report
City, state hike fees for everything but breathing
BY DOUG FEIDEN - DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Parking at Shea Stadium: $14 (has increased by $1 every year for the last three)
From the cradle to the altar to the grave, New Yorkers are getting
their pockets picked by thousands of sky-high fees, punishing fines and
secret surcharges.
Over the past four years, City Hall has made it more costly to park,
swim, marry, work out, play a round of golf, view a Picasso, visit a
zoo, play roller hockey or own a washing machine.
Not to be outdone, Albany has hiked the price of driving a car,
registering a boat, filing a lawsuit, catching a fish, trapping a
muskrat, pitching a tent and recording a birth.
Admissions, user permits, nuisance charges and summonses for violations
- dubbed the "fees that ate New York" by budget watchdogs - are raking
in billions of dollars and shattering revenue records for the city and
state, a Daily News review found.
Enjoy a stroll in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden? Once a bargain destination, the price went to $8, up from $5, on March 1.
Parking at Yankee or Shea Stadiums? The cost was $14 this season, up from $13 in 2006, $12 in 2005 and $10 in 2004.
Bedazzled by the orchid show at the New York Botanical Garden in the
Bronx? A ticket hit $18, one of the stiffest admissions outside
Manhattan, up from $15 in 2005.
Hoping to bag a wild turkey? Hand over $5, up from $2, for a state
permit. Braving the Department of Motor Vehicles? Expect a bill up to
500% higher than it was two years ago.
"Sticker shock!" cried Jimmy Lynch, an out-of-work Harlem roofer as he
shelled out $15 for license plates, up from $5.50, at the state DMV
office on E. 125th St.
"Ouch," echoed his son, Jimmy Jr., a Bronx carpenter who parted with
$50 for an ownership title certificate for his new car, up from $10.
"Who can afford these prices?"
Politicians may boast that they're not raising taxes. But by jacking up
old fees and inventing new ones, they're doing almost the same thing -
putting the bite on taxpayers and making everyday life more pricey.
Want a ballfield permit for a city park? Pay the Parks Department $16,
up from $8. A volleyball permit? Cough up $10, up from $5 after Mayor
Bloomberg hiked dozens of user fees.
Need a copy of a birth or death certificate? Fork over $30 to the state
Health Department, up from $15 after former Gov. George Pataki doubled
the "vital records surcharge."
Who pays the freight? Everybody: When Bloomberg was sworn in last year
for a second term, his "oath of office fee" hit $9, up from 15 cents
for his first inauguration.
When disgraced ex-Controller Alan Hevesi was sentenced on Feb. 9 for
stealing public funds, he was ordered to pay the state DNA databank
fund $50, a new charge for nonviolent felons.
And as fees climb, fines surge: The city wrote some 11 million tickets,
summonses and violations last year, up from 9.2 million in 2002, and
pulled down $718 million in fine revenue, up from $479 million, budget
records show.
Leading the onslaught were traffic agents who handed out 9.6 million
parking tickets in 2006, up from 8.4 million in 2002, and raked in $552
million.
New tires? Wash clothes? Go camping? Pay up
Yes, the government must also stay afloat fiscally. But it often does so on the backs of its citizens. For example:
* The Washing Machine Fee. The average annual income of some 430,000
people living in city housing projects is only $19,000. But that didn't
deter the Housing Authority from imposing painful levies on its tenants
last year.
Operating a washing machine in a housing project used to be free. No
longer. Residents are now paying $4.60 to $5.75 a month for a "water
usage fee."
Annual parking fees, now $60 to $75, skyrocketed from $5, while the
"electricity rate for dishwasher operations" rose to $5 a month from $3.
The Housing Authority, which discounts some of the increases, argues
it's been battered by Bush administration cutbacks in federal funding
and needed to recoup some costs to preserve public housing.
* The Automobile Tax. The annual budget of the Department of Motor
Vehicles is $275 million. But it takes in $900 million in motor vehicle
fee revenues, up from $640 million just two years ago, because of a
spate of heavy fee hikes.
"If they were just pure user fees, they'd only collect $275 million,
which is the cost of running the department," said E.J. McMahon, a
senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. "But they're collecting $900
million, and basically saying, 'You either pay up or you cannot operate
a car in the State of New York.' That's not a fee, it's a form of
taxation."
And those quasi-taxes have doubled in the past two years. Want to
register an all-terrain vehicle? Pay $25, up from $10. A boat? That'll
be $60, up from $30. A snowmobile? If you're not a member of a
snowmobile club, the cost is $100 per sled, up from $45.
* The Waste Tire Management Fee. A $2.50 surcharge for every new tire
purchased was added in 2005 by the state Department of Environmental
Conservation, supposedly to fund the cleanup of waste tire stockpiles.
Got a flat? Pay an extra $2.50 for the replacement. Buying a new car?
Kick in $12.50 more to cover the four new tires and a spare.
"It's sneaky accounting," said Robert Sinclair, a manager at the
American Automobile Association of New York. "Only a portion of the
money goes to scrap tire disposal; the rest goes into the general fund.
So they're digging into motorists' pockets to make up for budget
shortfalls caused by the fiscal mismanagement of the Legislature."
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