The PA Chamber is working to stop the advancement of legislation (H.B. 1069) that would allow counties to impose a "trash tax" of up to $4 per ton on municipal solid waste generated within their borders. The House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee advanced the bill on Tuesday, May 5. The Chamber successfully stopped the enactment of a similar tax in previous legislative sessions.

In a memo to House lawmakers, the Chamber pointed out that while more than half of Pennsylvania's counties previously imposed such a tax on waste, they did so illegally—without authorization for a new tax—as the courts have since ruled. As such, the Chamber views H.B. 1069 as a new tax, which would place increased financial burdens on small and large businesses, as well as on residents during an economically difficult time.

The tax is also a duplicative layer of taxation already addressed in Act 101 of 1988, the state's Municipal Waste Planning, Recycling and Reduction Act. In addition, Act 175 of 2002 declared that recycling programs established under Act 101 were expected to become "financially self-sufficient." The Chamber expressed to lawmakers that successful recycling can and must become financially self-sustainable. A new local recycling and waste management tax does not meet that goal.