Coastwatch seeks condom and nappy levy!

Death and Taxes

The plastic bag levy should be extended to condoms, sanitary pads, babies’ nappies, balloons, single-use cigarette lighters and other potential litter that’s harmful to wildlife, according to Coastwatch Ireland.

Somebody needs to get a life!
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/1128/1224327207882.html

FatherLen

WileyCoyote wrote: »

single-use cigarette lighters

a match?

Biggins

WileyCoyote wrote: »

The plastic bag levy should be extended to condoms, sanitary pads, babies’ nappies, balloons, single-use cigarette lighters and other potential litter that’s harmful to wildlife, according to Coastwatch Ireland.

Somebody needs to get a life!
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/1128/1224327207882.html

Humans is most harmful to wiildlife - lets tax ourselves!

O' wait...

davet82

WileyCoyote wrote: »

The plastic bag levy should be extended to condoms, sanitary pads, babies’ nappies, balloons, single-use cigarette lighters and other potential litter that’s harmful to wildlife, according to Coastwatch Ireland.

Somebody needs to get a life!
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/1128/1224327207882.html

After reading that article i'm going out to club a baby seal to death...

who's with me? :cool:

Duggy747

We should tax tax.

Kylo Ren

My weekends just got more expensive...

Tabnabs

She's right that there's a problem, it's well known

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/the-worlds-rubbish-dump-a-tip-that-stretches-from-hawaii-to-japan-778016.html

But a tax, for what good? Will Ms Dubsky go out and be paid to take away the rubbish? Where does the money for the platic bag tax actually go?

Ihatecuddles-old

Tabnabs wrote: »

Where does the money for the platic bag tax actually go?

Making more plastic bags?

frag420

There is a clubbing tax now ya know!!

davet82 wrote: »

After reading that article i'm going out to club a baby seal to death...

who's with me? :cool:

minidazzler

Now, you put another tax on condoms, which TBH I think should be heavily subsidised, and you're gonna have a lot more people who just won't buy them and will take the risk. Fook that.

laoch na mona

thats it lads make contraceptives more expensive

Myrddin

Duggy747 wrote: »

We should tax tax.

Give it enough time

fullstop

Keno 92 wrote: »

My weekends just got more expensive...

It'll only be a once annual payment for you, don't worry about it

davet82

frag420 wrote: »

There is a clubbing tax now ya know!!

ah bollix :pac:

keithclancy

WileyCoyote wrote: »

The plastic bag levy should be extended to condoms, sanitary pads, babies’ nappies, balloons, single-use cigarette lighters and other potential litter that’s harmful to wildlife, according to Coastwatch Ireland.

Somebody needs to get a life!
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/1128/1224327207882.html

Condoms have a tax on them already of 13.5%
Sanitary Towels have zero tax on them.

What a fu(king joke.

Myrddin

If only they taxed having a fat neck...our government alone could solve third world problems

frag420

Just strangle the seals with a used condom!!

davet82 wrote: »

ah bollix :pac:

flutered

keithclancy wrote: »

Condoms have a tax on them already of 13.5%
Sanitary Towels have zero tax on them.

What a fu(king joke.

a fg female politician got that put in law back in the day, by claiming they were a necessety, but so is food, ah never mind.

azezil

Times like this I'm glad to be a non-smoking gay male. Free condoms no bleeding from my crack (most of the time) and no babies ^_^

seamus

I've missed your unrestrained filth, az.

pirelli

WileyCoyote wrote: »

The plastic bag levy should be extended to condoms, sanitary pads, babies’ nappies, balloons, single-use cigarette lighters and other potential litter that’s harmful to wildlife, according to Coastwatch Ireland.

Somebody needs to get a life!
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/1128/1224327207882.html

Tabnabs wrote: »

She's right that there's a problem, it's well known

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/the-worlds-rubbish-dump-a-tip-that-stretches-from-hawaii-to-japan-778016.html

But a tax, for what good? Will Ms Dubsky go out and be paid to take away the rubbish? Where does the money for the platic bag tax actually go?

Across all coastal counties, Coastwatch volunteers found more than 18,000 drinks containers – an average of 45 for each 500m of shoreline. Plastic bottles were the most common, followed by aluminium cans, glass bottles and paper cartons.

To encourage reuse and recycling, Ms Dubsky called for a “deposit-on-return” regime for all drinks containers to “save resources, reduce carbon emissions, drastically reduce litter and create green jobs”.

Not a bad idea! Maybe have disposal bins on the beaches rather than taxing various plastic items. In relation to taxing items, there is the potential for manufactures to be forced to make their products more environmentally friendly.

Rare earth prices were controlled, and monoplized by china which manages 90% of the worlds rare earths, to the extent they cut exports.The result was many manufacturing companies were forced to find alternatives to rare earths, and develop new alternatives.

By taxing these pollutants it opens the market to more eco friendly products. An example of this would be Bio-degradable plastic, and other eco friendly materials such , and this technology could replace existing technology used to make these polluting products.

Perhaps an overreaction that would end up costing us and not the manufacture, but if managed, and timed to meet growing competition for more eco friendly products then it work.

The pacific ocean has billions and billions of plastic all floating about killing sea life. So either you have an idea of how to clean that up cost effectively or you have to consider alternatives. The difference and cost may be a few final chemical changes to the molecule elastomers that make up the plastic in order to make it bio degradeable. Adding starch to the syntethic during manufacture rapidly increases the breakdown and degradation of the plastic.

When the competition surfaces with better alternatives which is happening then tax is the only way to force profit driven corporations to make that step.

keithclancy

flutered wrote: »

a fg female politician got that put in law back in the day, by claiming they were a necessety, but so is food, ah never mind.

She could have campaigned for Zero rate on tax for Crash helmets rather than Fanny Pads:
http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/vat/rates/decision-detail-01423.jsp

23% Tax on a legally required device to keep your brains inside your skull.

pontia

if scumbags werent dumping junk into the sea it wouldent be an issue

snubbleste

Coastwatch have a point.
The amount of plastics and recyclable rubbish that is washed up on the coast is unbelievable.
I'd be all for a returnable deposit on aluminium cans. Laws should be brought in to force manufacturers to produce nappies etc that biodegrade within one year of use.

Hippies!

I don't use condoms :pac:

frag420

Well I heard if you have sex in the sea standing up then the girl can't get pregnant so no need for condoms!!

martyeds

Don't see why people dump condoms. I bought a condom in May 1994. Have used it 13 times since then. It still works. I may pass it onto my 8 sons when they are older.

the keen edge

Hippies! wrote: »

I don't use condoms :pac:

Why would ya. You aren't going to give some young wan Aids by just ****, alone, in your bedroom.

mike65

Maybe someone should work on inventing the bio-degradable condom

Gummy Panda

azezil wrote: »

Times like this I'm glad to be a non-smoking gay male. Free condoms no bleeding from my crack (most of the time) and no babies ^_^

Look at Mr Glass Half Full

mikom

WileyCoyote wrote: »

Coastwatch seeks condom and nappy levy!

Gonna be an expensive night out for Gary Glitter.

opinion guy

Duggy747 wrote: »

We should tax tax.

EnterNow wrote: »

Give it enough time

We already do - at least anyone who buys a new car does

Blisterman

It would be just another typical lazy politician's solution. Rather than trying to change attitudes or enforce existing litter laws, try to bring in additional laws and taxes.

See also: The UK's proposal to introduce a minimum price for alcohol to tackle anti social behaviour.

My name is URL

WileyCoyote wrote: »

The plastic bag levy should be extended to condoms, sanitary pads, babies’ nappies, balloons, single-use cigarette lighters and other potential litter that’s harmful to wildlife, according to Coastwatch Ireland.

Somebody needs to get a life!
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/1128/1224327207882.html

Well the levy on plastic bags was very successful in what it set out to achieve. What makes you think a small levy on other disposable goods wouldn't be?

If you think that stuff isn't harmful to wildlife, next time you walk along a beach and see the carcass or skeleton of a seagull, have a poke around at it and there's a huge chance you'll see all sorts of plastic bits inside it.

Blisterman

The problem to wildlife stems not from the plastic bags themselves, but from people littering them. So instead of punishing the minority of people who litter, instead everyone ends up paying a tax. That's hardly fair?

It's the legal equivalent of punishing everybody in a class when somebody misbehaves.

frag420

My name is URL wrote: »

Well the levy on plastic bags was very successful in what it set out to achieve. What makes you think a small levy on other disposable goods wouldn't be?

If you think that stuff isn't harmful to wildlife, next time you walk along a beach and see the carcass or skeleton of a seagull, have a poke around at it and there's a huge chance you'll see all sorts of plastic bits inside it.

Maybe the seagulls should dispose of their condoms and plastic from birdybeer six packs more carefully then!!

Inconsiderate dump dwellers!!

blue note

If we tax condoms we're going to have an even bigger problem with nappies!

MaxSteele

Biggins wrote: »

Humans is most harmful to wiildlife - lets tax ourselves!

O' wait...

Where the fook have you been hiding for the last month ?

GLaDOS

Ireland already has overly priced condoms compared to the rest of the world (link) Something that is impacting on sti rates (link again).

Making them more expensive is a fúcking terrible idea.

up for anything

keithclancy wrote: »

Condoms have a tax on them already of 13.5%
Sanitary Towels have zero tax on them.

What a fu(king joke.

You make it sound like only men buy condoms.

flutered wrote: »

a fg female politician got that put in law back in the day, by claiming they were a necessety, but so is food, ah never mind.

Fair play to her.

ScumLord

My name is URL wrote: »

Well the levy on plastic bags was very successful in what it set out to achieve. What makes you think a small levy on other disposable goods wouldn't be?

Because people need to use these items and taxing them won't have the desired affect.

The plastic bag levy encouraged people to use plastic bag more sensibly, this tax won't affect how people use and dispose of condoms it'll just make them more expensive. You won't decide it's best to hold onto your condom to use it again or get a condom for life.

Maybe if there where more public bins around people might use them but people aren't going to go out of their way to find a bin for their sperm filled condom. If they know a certain area is popular for riding because they're finding loads of condoms put a bin there.

magma69

You won't get caught for the nappy levy if you're willing to pay the condom levy.

LivelineDipso

Save the Latex Trout!

Capt'n Midnight

The solution to the condom problem is to match the DNA against the heal prick samples taken at birth , though the records only go back to 1984.

keithclancy

up for anything wrote: »

You make it sound like only men buy condoms.

You make it sound like only women buy Sanitary Towels.

http://www.google.com/patents/US4576599

Capt'n Midnight

Duggy747 wrote: »

We should tax tax.

We already do.
Look at how VAT and VRT are applied to cars.

iguana

snubbleste wrote: »

Coastwatch have a point.
The amount of plastics and recyclable rubbish that is washed up on the coast is unbelievable.
I'd be all for a returnable deposit on aluminium cans. Laws should be brought in to force manufacturers to produce nappies etc that biodegrade within one year of use.

The thing with biodegradable nappies is that they need light and air in order to photodegrade. In landfill they last nearly as long as ordinary nappies. Resusable nappies are the only way to significantly reduce pollution.

opinion guy

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

We already do.
Look at how VAT and VRT are applied to cars.

...ahem....

opinion guy wrote: »

We already do - at least anyone who buys a new car does

seamus

My name is URL wrote: »

Well the levy on plastic bags was very successful in what it set out to achieve. What makes you think a small levy on other disposable goods wouldn't be?

Really it set out to discourage people from using plastic bags unless really necessary. Condoms? Sanitary towels? Not really things you casually use when you don't need to.

The plastic bag levy also encouraged sensible disposal of plastic bags because they can be used multiple times, so people aren't all that quick to throw out something which they paid for.
A condom or a sanitary towel is a one-use disposable item, and a levy on these isn't going to encourage people to hold onto them and use them a second or third time.

In short, the two aren't really comparable. Except that you can use a plastic bag as a condom. But then you're not going to use it to carry your vegetables home in.

dan185

seamus wrote: »

Except that you can use a plastic bag as a condom. But then you're not going to use it to carry your vegetables home in.

speak for yourself.

iguana

seamus wrote: »

Really it set out to discourage people from using plastic bags unless really necessary. Condoms? Sanitary towels? Not really things you casually use when you don't need to.

The plastic bag levy also encouraged sensible disposal of plastic bags because they can be used multiple times, so people aren't all that quick to throw out something which they paid for.
A condom or a sanitary towel is a one-use disposable item, and a levy on these isn't going to encourage people to hold onto them and use them a second or third time.

In short, the two aren't really comparable. Except that you can use a plastic bag as a condom. But then you're not going to use it to carry your vegetables home in.

That is true of condoms but not sanitary towels as there are plenty of alternatives like cotton, reusable towels or a menstrual cup like the mooncup. Nobody needs to use disposable sanitary on a regular, ongoing basis.