Kali 'disposal' tax? WTH is this?

[Santilli]

OK
Went into Costco.
Choices are Samsung 2233 @ 179. or Viewsonic 24" at 229.

Big difference in cash, not so great difference in size. Figure what the heck, I look at the thing all the time, the extra 50 bucks might be worth it.

Go to check out. Total is 267.26?"?>:-(
That's almost a 16% difference!!!

Then I look at the receipt.

Kali adds a 16.00 Waste fee, and, tax, @ 9.25% now, is 21.27. Total
37.27:=0

Now, on top of that, I like the Samsung software, allowing quick switching of resolutions, and quick monitor tuning for functions, like games, text, etc.

Anyone have an out of state distributor they use that doesn't charge the extra 17%?

Thanks

GS

 

[ddrueding]

Just checked my most recent order with Newegg, there is a $16 "Electronic Waste Recycling Fee" there as well.

 

[Santilli]

They must be adding it at the end, because I just priced a few monitors there, and, it doesn't appear in the cart on the 'checkout' page, but, I haven't run one all the way through yet.

Do you have a monitor that has the ease of use of the Samsung, for changing resolutions? I.E. just click on the side of the monitor to change from game, text, movie, settings, without having to much around with Adobe Gamma?

Thanks
G
PS What REALLY pisses me off is I not only have to pay the tax, but, pay the money to drive down to the disposal site, and there aren't a lot of them, and drop the 21" monitor off there. I'm going to Costco now, to see if the TV's have the same problem, or tax.

 

[ddrueding]

Anything that contains mercury will have the tax. That is every LCD or plasma display.

I don't install software for my monitors, or change the settings, so I don't know.

 

[LunarMist]

It is not just CA.

 

[Fushigi]

So .. Hindu goddesses are taxing west coast people?

On a more serious note, here in Illinois there is no tax. We have specific electronics recycling centers that take things free or for a minimal charge ($5-10 per item).

 

[ddrueding]

On a more serious note, here in Illinois there is no tax. We have specific electronics recycling centers that take things free or for a minimal charge ($5-10 per item).

We have the same, but my guess would be that their funding comes from this tax.

 

[ddrueding]

Here is the write-up on the tax in CA...

 

[Santilli]

Whatever. It should fail under Privilges and Immunities Clause of the 14th amendment, since the tax seems to aim a higher percentage at the lower cost items. 100 dollar monitor gets the same 16 dollar tax as a 600 dollar monitor. Appears to move to 25 dollars at around 700, at least from Costco's pricing.

I was going to buy another Samsung 21.5", but, I think I'll wait, and rethink this, since that would mean nearly 34 dollars in tax on a 180 dollar monitor. That's something like 18%. I can cut that down considerably by buying a 720 dpi 32" TV screen, from one of the better makers, for around 500.

Odd part is I have the money in my pocket, and, I'm so pissed, I just hooked up the old Dell to the gaming machine, and, I'm going to wait 3 days, to cool off.

This tax stuff is REALLY getting out of hand...

 

[sechs]

We have specific electronics recycling centers that take things free or for a minimal charge ($5-10 per item).

That doesn't solve the problem of the electronics getting to the recycling center, or the center actually doing something other than just dumping it.

This stuff is nasty and expensive to reclaim. People aren't going to pay at the end to dispose of it properly, when they can just dump it somewhere for free. Instead, we can charge them up front and create a program that takes care of it for them.

 

[Fushigi]

But charging the tax up front does nothing to guarantee the electronics get recycled either. Unless the program includes curb-side pickup, people will still opt to just toss it in with the rest of their trash when convenient. The only differences are the tax/fee is collected ahead of time and there's a bureaucracy the tax has to support on top of the recycling center operational costs.

 

[Mercutio]

Given the state of California's state budget I'm sure this up-front fee is doing some small amount of work in filling the gap.

Indiana barely even has recycling, at least where I live. People do separate things, but the same truck picks it up and I've watched them throw it all in together.

 

[mubs]

That is sad.

 

[Stereodude]

This tax stuff is REALLY getting out of hand...

So do what lots of other people are doing. Move out of California to a red state and then keep voting for the same type of politicians who brought the lunacy to California while hoping that somehow the same type of politicians will achieve an alternate outcome in the new location.

 

[Mercutio]

It should be noted that all but two of the 2004 red states are the ones which accept the most handouts from the federal government and generally have the least educated populations, while the 2004 blue states are among the most productive, well educated and receive the least money from the federal governments.

And, of course, "red state" politics, such as cutting government revenues, eliminating a budget surplus and fighting two unproductive and unnecessary wars, have at the very least seriously aggravated the issues the entire country is now facing.

But hey, go ahead and live the dream, Stereodude. Undereducated Bible thumping neocons are the real Americans, and the other 79% of us who aren't republicans are just taking up valuable American space and breathing valuable American air.

 

[Stereodude]

Even if we were to accept your post as absolutely truth (which its not) it still doesn't explain why people are moving out of blue states in droves.

 

[ddrueding]

...it still doesn't explain why people are moving out of blue states in droves.

Because blue states are typically the better places to live, which is why their average IQ is higher, which is why they are blue. These places are also more expensive, which is why people are leaving in a down economy.

 

[Mercutio]

And here's the state rankings in Education. Generally speaking the states at the top of the list are blue states with a low population.

 

[Stereodude]

Because blue states are typically the better places to live, which is why their average IQ is higher, which is why they are blue.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

 

[Santilli]

This argument is SO 20th century. Get over it. There is only one party:
Just think Brave New World.
They use war, the theory that we have a two party system, from focusing on the real issue: We have a bunch of rum runners who think they are royalty, and, are entitled to all that entails.

We have an oligarchy, and, unless you are part of it, you aren't in it.

Baby Bush has really clarified that. Supposed to cut spending, increased it more then anyone, except what Obama is supporting.
Obama went from out to in, in a very short period of time. He's now set for life: unless he gets impeached, and, the only people that would do that are Congress: His incentive to toe the oligarchy line, and, keep it in place.

As for which states accepted money: WHO CARES? It's OUR money, we should be getting it, as should everyone else on the US. In fact, "Federal money" is an oxymoron. It's OUR TAX money.

 

[ddrueding]

Time for the B&G, Handy?

 

[Santilli]

Let's get this back on track.
Is there a state, or company, that doesn't charge this 'waste tax'?
Do you have anyone you deal with that you like?

Anyone have a used monitor they want to sell, that they didn't have to pay the tax on, so they can move up to bigger and better?

TV would work, as well. Just got a DVI to HDMI cable in.

 

[Mercutio]

Indiana does not charge a tax like that. I can throw monitors in dumpsters all day long here and no one gives a shit.

That is not a good thing.

It's $16. If you can't handle a $16 charge for disposing of electronics you don't deserve to own them in the first place.

 

[Santilli]

16 dollars, plus 9.25% tax, on a 100 dollar item? Seems to me that it's pretty clear our new legislatures don't care about the little, poor people, now do they? Guess poor folks don't need computers, or should be paying 25% tax for that?

What's bothering me is I teach kids that that 16 dollars IS a big deal.

By the way, the tax RARELY ends up actually doing what it's supposed to. I suspect it created that nice website, and, paid the salaries of the folks that porkbarreled onto the payroll, and, didn't do anything to solve the problem...

 

[Handruin]

Time for the B&G, Handy?

Yup...done.

ps, I'm impressed the state I live in appears to be ranked #2.

 

[CougTek]

M.I.T.

There's your reason.

 

[Handruin]

Maybe...I haven't followed any of their recent history and status to know if they are still regarded as a good school.

 

[Santilli]

Since we are in the pub, check Kali's ranking. 47th?
Yep, it's amazing how bad we are, considering how liberal we are.

To be real, with 49% of our student body being Mexican-Spanish, and having a different life style then the attorneys that write the laws and evaluation techniques, this is not a surprise.

 

[Mercutio]

To be real, with 49% of our student body being Mexican-Spanish, and having a different life style then the attorneys that write the laws and evaluation techniques, this is not a surprise.

I would have mentioned that if you hadn't.

 

[Santilli]

We need a new phrase: Mexican-carpetbaggers. These guys have it down. They come in in about October. Their kids miss maybe the first month. They work their tails off, doing whatever is avaliable, and, all live in one house. About November 15th, they go back to Mexico, and spend Thanksgiving and Christmas on a warm beach. They may get back about Feb. 1. Back to work, and, depending on how things go, back to the beach house in the summer. Kids don't get a great education by our standards, but, they live far better then most lawyers I know, quality of life wise, and health vs. wealth balance.

Plus, they get all the benefits of living in the US, with no taxes, since they don't make it over our tax minimums, yet, that money goes a LONG way in Mexico.

This is an over-simplification, but, it is what most of the crew in Half Moon Bay where doing, and, to a lesser extent, the area I'm in now.

 

[sechs]

16 dollars, plus 9.25% tax, on a 100 dollar item? Seems to me that it's pretty clear our new legislatures don't care about the little, poor people, now do they? Guess poor folks don't need computers, or should be paying 25% tax for that?

The problem in California is the Republicans.

They're way too right wing to be a serious force here, but there are just enough of them to muck up anything sensical which Democrats might try to do.

So, we end up with a lot of crap.

On top of that, a lot of misguided Republicans unable to get a public office spearhead really dumb propositions that many Californians are too stupid to vote against. This ties the hands of the legislators, even when they can agree.

 

[ddrueding]

We need a new phrase: Mexican-carpetbaggers. These guys have it down. They come in in about October. Their kids miss maybe the first month. They work their tails off, doing whatever is avaliable, and, all live in one house. About November 15th, they go back to Mexico, and spend Thanksgiving and Christmas on a warm beach. They may get back about Feb. 1. Back to work, and, depending on how things go, back to the beach house in the summer. Kids don't get a great education by our standards, but, they live far better then most lawyers I know, quality of life wise, and health vs. wealth balance.

Plus, they get all the benefits of living in the US, with no taxes, since they don't make it over our tax minimums, yet, that money goes a LONG way in Mexico.

This is an over-simplification, but, it is what most of the crew in Half Moon Bay where doing, and, to a lesser extent, the area I'm in now.

I knwo several public school teachers, and this is exactly what happens here as well. One teaches in Salinas and has said her class shrinks by a third for half the school year. Then they get back just in time for the testing that these scores are derived from.

 

[Santilli]

What they should test them on is their Spanish.

Sechs: This is NOT about parties. Sooner you get over that the better. We have a bunch of drunken sailors in our legislature, that spend money like there is no tomorrow, since, thanks to Silicon Valley, they got drunk on tax money they didn't earn.

That, and, we really need a second party. I.E. that both the current parties are indistinguishable as far as fiscal irresponsibility.

Now, since they have to budget, they can't, instead increasing taxes that are going to drive the very companies that made them all that money out of the state. It's happened already, and, it's getting worse.

 

[Tea]

Who is Kali? Never heard of her.

 

[Tannin]

One thing that this thread doesn't seem to be aware of is post-collection sorting. Now it may or may not apply in this case, and if it applies it may only apply in certain districts, but I can tell you that over here in Oz, you generally have two bins and two bins only.

Your garbage goes into the small bin (anything hat is not recyclable).

Everything else goes into the big bin. Yup, all mixed up together any way you want. Just throw it in the bin. Metal, plastics of many kinds, paper, cardboard, beer cans, glass .... just throw it all into the bin and it all goes into the recycle truck (there is a different truck does the landfill stuff) and gets sorted at the recycling centre. (That's the fancy modern word for tip.) A lot of the work, apparently, is done by intellectually disabled people who are very pleased indeed to have the "real job" that they have never been able to get before. (I know this because I used to play cricket with these guys, and then share a beer or two afterwards - and I'm telling you now, they might have been intellectually disabled, but they weren't bloody cricketing disabled! Their side used to beat my side three matches out of four. Any time you beat the ID boys, you knew you'd played your best game.)

 

[LOST6200]

PILE, piles,PILEs of toxic junks are ev ertwheres.!

 

[LOST6200]

Who is Kali? Never heard of her.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107302/

 

[Fushigi]

Tannin, around here the recycling is much the same. Glass, plastic, metal, paper all get tossed in a single truck and the sorting takes place at the center. Personally, we separate paper from the rest , but that's more for our own convenience as the glass/metal is frequently wet from being rinsed out and it'd just make the paper soggy.

I don't know about the ID of the recycling center workers, though. Knowing this area, they're probably union folks earning a (more than) decent wage. Also, a fair portion of the sorting is automated: All incoming materials are shredded to a certain maximum size. Metals are filtered off via magnets. Things are floated in liquid and the certain things that float are filtered off the top, etc. There is plenty of labor involved but automation is used where possible.

Oh, we have 3 trucks, not two: Waste, Recycling, and Yard/Brush. The yard pickup is for grass clippings, tree branches, etc. and is not free. We aren't allowed to burn our trimmings so we must dispose of whatever we can't personally compost. And very few people compost anything at all. Technically, there's a 4th truck as needed; if you place an appliance or piece of furniture too large for the trash truck to hold at the curb, a separate truck is dispatched to pick it up. Assuming it's not scavenged first.

And given the destructive nature of the politicians, it would seem my earlier link to Kali is appropriate.

 

[sechs]

This is NOT about parties. Sooner you get over that the better. We have a bunch of drunken sailors in our legislature, that spend money like there is no tomorrow, since, thanks to Silicon Valley, they got drunk on tax money they didn't earn.

Actually, it's all about parties. The Republicans here are so far out of the mainstream that they dismissed one of their leaders for *dealing* with the Democrats, i.e., trying to take care of the state's business.

If one or the other party was clearly in charge, we'd have a fiscal policy that makes some sense. Instead, one party can't stop the other from spending, but won't let them tax. So, no incentive to moderate is created.