The "dump tax"
A couple of people have emailed us today about a "dump tax" that's taking effect today. From the site for this "tax":
The New York bathroom tax will take effect at midnight on March 26. All bathrooms in state buildings and roads will now require a $1.00 pre payment. Toilet paper will be available at twenty-five cents per 10 sheets. Credit and debit cards will be accepted. We thank you in advance for your patience during this transition.
Ha! This is clearly a hoax. And it looks like it was created by people at PYX 106.* The url "dumptaxny.info" was registered by Robert Wohlfeld of Chatham -- AKA The Wolf.
Nicely played.
*We didn't hear the segment in which they apparently talked about this today, so they might have owned up to the hoax on the air.
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Comments
Haha. I love these kind of things. They get people all riled up. It reminds me of when FLY 92 convinced a ton of people that New York had legalized prostitution.
... said Emma on Mar 26, 2009 at 3:18 PM | link
Maybe the creators are AOA readers! ;-)
... said Matt on Mar 26, 2009 at 3:20 PM | link
I would imagine they would own up to it on April Fool's day, but I could be wrong...
... said Summer on Mar 26, 2009 at 3:31 PM | link
That's actually a fairly common practice in Europe, and I fully support it. You pay a nominal fee (25-50 cents) to an attendant, and the bathrooms are amazingly clean comparatively.
... said Slacker on Mar 26, 2009 at 3:37 PM | link
I'm moving to New Hampshire where I can Sh*t Free or Die!
... said Sandor on Mar 26, 2009 at 3:58 PM | link
Har-har-har. Those wacky morning radio shows just crack me up.
... said Rob on Mar 26, 2009 at 4:17 PM | link
When I head this on the radio I looked at my cell phone to make sure it was actually March 26th and not April 1st.
People even called in saying they used these pay-to-poop toilets!
... said Ryan on Mar 26, 2009 at 5:10 PM | link
haha, i heard this this morning on my way to work... i belived it, told a few guys at work about it... a few more heard it and were talking about it.. im a truck driver.. even my customers were talking about it. now.. i feel like an ass! lol.. i thought the domain for the site was kind of off, but doing a whois on it was a good idea. wish i thought of it :)
... said fantasy_scripter on Mar 26, 2009 at 5:11 PM | link
Ugh. Another hack radio show that thinks they are funny, that's all this is. God bless the people who are easily entertained and think PYX 106 is funny.
... said Tony on Mar 27, 2009 at 8:44 AM | link
Well, darn! Now my co-workers have more potty talk to gasp about. But maybe it'll get our own resident crapper to think twice before she makes the bathroom no longer habitable: AKA: No longer a Class M planet!
... said Kari on Mar 27, 2009 at 8:55 AM | link
I've heard of a poll tax before, but never a bowl tax! Thankfully this was a hoax. If this fee existed, Albany might have floated away on St. Patrick's Day.
What makes hoaxes like this so funny are the sheer amount of people that buy it, no matter how absurd they may seem (though who knows what the Three Men Men in the Room have cooked up- we may not be laughing long).
God bless the people who think they're above humor like this.
... said Mike D on Mar 27, 2009 at 11:06 AM | link
@MikeD: not absurd. Again, fairly common in many parts of the world known as "outside the USA".
... said -S on Mar 27, 2009 at 11:24 AM | link
Good point. Our apartment actually has a faux pay toilet sign from jolly ol' England. I've seen pay toilets in certain places in the US and I know it's more prevalent in Europe. And like I said, I'm sure the sheer amount of things taxed/to be taxed in the Empire State, I'm sure people had less of a hard time believing this story when they heard it. And I'm sure they were- wait for it- pi$$ed off!
... said Mike D on Mar 27, 2009 at 1:37 PM | link
What the hell is this Russia I'll just s*&t on the floor and wipe with the hand towels
... said Brian on Mar 27, 2009 at 10:06 PM | link