Does your cleaner add an environmental surcharge (a.k.a. EPA
tax, ADEQ tax, environmental fee, ticket charge, waste surcharge,
disposal fee, etc.) of 3% to 9% to each invoice? Allegedly to cover
the cost of drycleaning solvent permits and drycleaning solvent
waste removal?
Unfortunately, the term "environmental surcharge" has led many
consumers to believe that this surcharge is a tax that must be
collected by cleaners and forwarded to a federal, state or local
agency. Truth is, there's no such tax in Arizona.
It's merely a "stealth mechanism" designed to generate additional
revenue - all in the hope that you won't understand the
nature of the surcharge, tax, fee or charge.
An ethical cleaner would never add an environmental surcharge to
your bill. That's because they view compliance with federal, state
and local environmental laws and regulations as another business
expense, not an additional revenue source.
In addition to using the environmental surcharge as a revenue
increasing mechanism that adds nothing to the quality of the final
product, here's what gets my goat: Some of the biggest offenders
are cleaners who claim to be "green", "organic", "non-toxic" and
"environmentally friendly". This begs the question: if your
drycleaning solvent is so green, so organic, so non-toxic and so
environmentally friendly, why is there a need for an environmental
surcharge? And why do you charge an environmental surcharge on
shirt laundry and linen laundry?
Adding an environmental surcharge to your cleaning bill is like
a bar adding a restroom usage fee to your bar tab.
How can I help you?