Omaha Mayor Wants a Federal Toilet Paper (Wiper Your Butt) Tax: Do You Want to Pay for Omaha's New Sewers in the Other 49?

The mayor of Omaha wants the federal government to tax you every time you wipe your butt. I'm not kidding, proving once again there is nothing politicians won't come up with to tax. It's all taxable and one day they will figure out how to tax the sun.

Mayor Jim Suttle of Omaha wants a federal handout to pay for Omaha's needed new sewers, which is not an authorized Constitutional appropriation in Article One Section Eight. That hasn't stopped Suttle. He went to Washington proposing a federal wipe you butt tax in order for Omaha to afford their new sewage system. I wonder why Suttle won't tax wiping butts in his own city and leave the rest of us free to wipe our butts?

Mayor Jim Suttle went to Washington Tuesday flush with ideas for how federal officials could help cities like Omaha pay for multibillion-dollar sewer projects.

Among the items on his brainstorming list: a proposal for a 10-cent federal tax on every roll of toilet paper you buy.

Based on the four-pack price for Charmin double rolls Tuesday at a midtown Hy-Vee, such a tax would add more than 10 percent to the per-roll price, pushing it over a buck.

The idea came from a failed 2009 House measure by an Oregon congressman to help cities and the environment.

“I heard about it and said, ‘Well, this is simple. Let's put it on the table,'” said Suttle. “It doesn't mean I endorse it.”

The mayor says Omaha needs help with the metro area's $1.7 billion bill for federally mandated sewer improvements. The work must be done by 2024.

Suttle talked about the mandate at a Tuesday meeting held by the U.S. Conference of Mayors. He didn't mention the toilet paper tax but said later that he's open to that and other ways to cover the sewer bill.

“How are we affording this ... as we come out of the recession?” he asked.

Hey Jim, I don't want to pay for Omaha's sewers so maybe you should ask the federal government where in the Constitution they have the authority to tel you how to build your sewers in Omaha rather than be a wuss and bow down to the federal leviathan while proposing your wipe your butt tax.