Will the chewing gum tax cost you anything?

SantaHoe

impr0v wrote:

At least once the tax comes in, I won't have the hassle of doing that, I can dump it on whatever street I'm on, since I'm paying for that privilege, and safe in the knowledge that my five cents per pack has been ring-fenced for spending exclusively on cleaning it up. That's the way it works, isn't it?

Yeah that about sums up my complete bewilderment with this tax.
The plastic bag tax worked because it encouraged people to see them as re-usable items... how the hell does that apply to chewing gum?
"No Johnno, don't spit it on the path, you can bring it home and use it to hang up your Man United and scooter posters."
Once chewing gum has been chewed, it's fairly useless... I don't see how raising the price is going to make people more socially responsible.
And as impr0v pointed out, I don't expect for one second that this money is going to be set aside to fund the new 'Used Chewinggum Removal Task Force'.
The single positive side of this tax is that people will talk about chewinggum disposal for a few days, think about it, then realise that (A). they don't buy chewing-gum (B). they already dispose of their chewing-gum sensibly... or (C) I don't give a shít, don't be wreckin' me buzz.

They should just take the Simpsons approach and have a tax on puffy directing pants while they're at it.

Chevano Riley

vinnyfitz wrote:

Will the chewing gum tax cost you anything?

itll cost me my sanity.

this kind of taxation drives me up the wall. next theyll be sticking pedometers under our skin and the county council will charge me per path walked on. this is bull****. chewing gum=problem. government therefore pays someone to clean it up, and every taxpayer lends a hand.

Chevano Riley

i added a darling signature for the occasion.

SantaHoe

The tax is stupid and pointless... it's nothing more than an attempt by whatever minister to get his name in the paper and make it look like he's been doing something... pathetic and brainless.

I think the mentality behind littering is that they see other peoples litter around and think "Well what's another crisp packet gonna change, might as well add to the collection".
This collective belief that one "average" person can't and never will make a difference, is what has so many things fúcked right up.
Of course if you think and accept that Dublin is a kip and always will be, you're going to treat it like kip... and the vicious circle continues.
Changes aren't going to come about through taxation or punishment, they'll come about by waking people up to the fact that they have control over wheather they live in a dirty kip or not and to take some pride in where they live.
A lot of blame lies in the government aswell, it's up to town planners (etc) to give something for people to be proud of in the first place.

It's just a case of cowboy ministers passing the buck again and approaching problems arse-about-face with this whole "anything is better than nothing" approach to problem solving... what in the name of Jesus are we paying them for?

impr0v

Chevano Riley wrote:

i added a darling signature for the occasion.

Heh. Now if only everyone was a socially responsible as you, we'd be able to pave the streets with gold.

tony 2 tone

Pet wrote:

I think it's because it tends to clump together inside you. So if you swallowed two or three pieces in a day, it would cause a blockage in your intestines - painful and possibly dangerous,

No it wouldn't, unless you were eating a whole packet at once and swallowing that, and did that a couple of times a day. :rolleyes:

Tommy Vercetti

impr0v wrote:

The latest of the proposed stealth taxes has the potential to bankrupt me. Since quitting smoking nearly a year ago I've become a Phenylalanine freak, working my way through entire rubber plantations in a single day, jaw muscles bulging like Sir Alex after a champions league match. Now in fairness, 5 cent isn't overly punitive, but I'll have to pay it despite religiously wrapping the stuff and storing it until I'm near a bin.

At least once the tax comes in, I won't have the hassle of doing that, I can dump it on whatever street I'm on, since I'm paying for that privilege, and safe in the knowledge that my five cents per pack has been ring-fenced for spending exclusively on cleaning it up. That's the way it works, isn't it?

I share your chewy misery, sir. I went from nicotine hell to chewing gum crap, via nicorette, and they are still trying to extract more taxes from me. Now all I need is to find a way of avoiding the ATM receipt tax so I can pay for all the other taxes.

Chevano Riley

impr0v wrote:

Heh. Now if only everyone was a socially responsible as you, we'd be able to pave the streets with gold.

Silent Grape

haha, i was doing surveys with the general public in my work about this over a year ago, i never had an idea they would actually go ahead with it!!i shouldve answered all the bloody questions myself!

Piste

Lex_Diamonds wrote:

I firmly believe all chewing gun should be banned. Only way to sort it. Its a damn site easier than eliminating knackers, that cant be done overnight.
QUOTE]

'Ethinic cleansing' is Immoral, Knacker hunting is just illegal!

That Chewing gum tax would cost me so much, I go through several packets a week ffs.

snappieT

What is the definition of 'a packet'? Some packs have 6 sticks, others have 25 pellets.

What about the 'Wrigleys Xtreme' - they're off the market now, but they easily had 100 tiny balls in a pack.

And if you buy a mulipack in the supermarket: 8 packs of 10, for example, do you get charged 40c tax?

Big Ears

snapscan1212p wrote:

And if you buy a mulipack in the supermarket: 8 packs of 10, for example, do you get charged 40c tax?

8 packs 5c per pack= 40c dosen't take a a rocket scientist , of course thats what you get charged .

and no matter how much of the product is inside one pack , it will always be 5c .

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Crash

daveirl wrote:

This post has been deleted.

It can also just plain be difficult to swallow the stuff - its oddly dry and can catch (or does catch) on my throat so thats why i stopped swallowing it.

used it to hang up posters once. hehe.

Mossy Monk

never buy the stuff so it wont affect me one bit. another stupid tax though

Mayshine

Just wondering but,

I can just see the irish attitude towards this. Well since I am now paying the muppets in government to clean this stuff up after me, why would should I even be bothered to dispose of this correctly....

Stupid tax - as usual penalises everybody even the responsible people. I hate this sort of lowest common denomenator tax. I don't want to be punished because my fellow country men and women are filthy dirty lazy twats...

My 2 Cents

SantaHoe

Mayshine wrote:

My 2 Cents

*cough* 5 cents even

I'd say they've got a pool going in the Dail bar about who can bring in the most pointless tax... wish I was a minister, it sounds like great fun.

Victor

rb_ie wrote:

I reckon it's kids though, I mean, most people over the age of 18 will put stuff in bins, but kids have no problem just dropping it and walking away.

Yeah, kids are repsonsible for Chernobyl also.

Rb

Victor wrote:

Yeah, kids are repsonsible for Chernobyl also.

No I wouldn't go as far as to say that.....wait, maybe so..

snappieT

Big Ears wrote:

8 packs 5c per pack= 40c dosen't take a a rocket scientist , of course thats what you get charged .

and no matter how much of the product is inside one pack , it will always be 5c .

That makes no sense... since it is one 'pack' containing 8 subpacks would it not just be 5c based on your second statement

rainbow kirby

It won't cost me a cent, I can't stand the stuff! I'd be happy if this levy would reduce the amount of it stuck to the ground.

nobodythere

Flukey wrote:

It won't effect me as I never touch the stuff. How do we stop the people littering the place, chewing gum or other items. We really are bad. It is terrible watching people casually throwing something on the ground. It is worse still when they are near a bin. It is as easy to throw it in that as on the ground....QUOTE]

Totally agree. I've been raised at a young age not to throw litter on the ground. I threw it once when I was about 4 and got shouted at. Not just an "awwww he's littering, pick that up son". Keep in mind I'm 16 so I grew up in the same time period as all the little skangers who are too cool for bins.

At festivals it's different though. I threw things on the ground at slane because the bins were full up in 10 minutes. What else could I do? I had far too much to carry and had no bag. At least at festivals they have people picking stuff up during it. I blame the inadequate binnage (new word!) in towns. According to the last mayor of Galway (Terry O'Flaherty) a bin costs them €1000.... wtf! It's a metal box that says bruscar! I could make those for less than €10!

Big Ears

snapscan1212p wrote:

That makes no sense... since it is one 'pack' containing 8 subpacks would it not just be 5c based on your second statement

I didn't explain that well did I ? .
What I ment was 5c for each of what you called subpacks , no matter how many of them you buy in a bulk-package .