Tax everyone for ag overpumping aquifer
It’s time to apply the Pottery Barn principle (“you break, you own it”) to California agriculture.
A surtax on ag income should be enacted to pay for the damage being done to our infrastructure by the subsidence caused by over-pumping of our aquifers. Such a tax would, of course, be passed on to all those who consume our ag products. Thus, the cost of repairing damaged infrastructure would be borne by all who benefit, not just by California taxpayers.
Call it a Water Depletion Allowance.
John Barrere, Fresno
This story was originally published September 7, 2015 at 6:39 AM with the headline "Tax everyone for ag overpumping aquifer."