Some Michigan lawmakers are tired of Canada dumping trash in state landfills and are proposing a tax hike to deter the practice.
The state has the nation's lowest dumping fee — just 21 cents per ton — and Canada has taken advantage of the savings: Trash imports increased 23 percent last year.
"We are willing to take care of our problem here in Michigan but we don't want to be the importer for everybody else's trash," said House leader Dianne Byrum (search), a Democrat. "If the out-of-state folks — the Canadians — are set on trashing our state ... they are going to pay for it. The free ride is over."
Lawmakers have proposed raising the dumping fee to $7.50 per ton, which would be the highest garbage tax in the nation.
But Michigan businesses, among the biggest disposers of trash, call the tax hike rubbish.
"We don't need to continually increase costs for residents of our state to pay for some politically motivated effort to try to increase revenues at a time when we're dealing with government deficits," said Jim Barrett of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce (search).
Click on the video box above for a complete report by FOX News' Jeff Goldblatt.
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