Mayor: Tax toilet paper to pay for sewers

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OMAHA, March 24 (UPI) -- Omaha Mayor Jim Suttle suggests a federal tax on toilet paper would be an appropriate way to fund sewer improvements.

Suttle told the Omaha World-Herald the city will probably not be able to handle the entire $1.7 billion cost of upgrading its sewer system. By federal mandate, the work must be completed by 2024.

He said he picked up the idea from a 2009 bill introduced by an Oregon congressman that failed to become law.

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

The mayor brought up the problem of sewer upgrades during a meeting Tuesday in Washington of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. He did not talk about the possibility of a 10-cents-a-roll toilet paper tax.

In Omaha, a 10-cent tax would increase the cost by about 10 percent, the newspaper said.