I previously blogged that Seattle was contemplating a tax on plastic bags which managed to garner a decent amount of support. Clearly, the initial support wasn’t enough.
Seattle voters firmly rejected the measure in a vote this month. The bill, had it passed, would have made Seattle the first city to tax both plastic and paper shopping bags. The measure would have required certain retailers to tack on an additional 20 cent tax per bag. The idea was that the tax would have served as an incentive to stop using disposable bags.
Supporters of the measure were disappointed but not swayed from their cause. They noted that their opponents spent nearly 15 times more than they did on advertising, lead by the American Chemistry Council, and yet the measure was defeated by only a factor of 3 to 2. For the supporters, it was a good first step.
Those in opposition to the measure were pleased to see it rejected, referring to it as “costly” and “unnecessary.”
So the matter is done… for now. There’s no doubt that it will be raised again. 2010 anyone?
Arrrgh! The “life arrangers” try to strike again. Whether it’s tax policy or some other form of coercion, there are those who simply cannot resist forcing others to “live right”, whatever that means. On my campus the anti-smoking and pro-health crowd are strutting about like turkeys, patting one another on the back because the entire campus, indoors and out, is “smoke-free”. But the cafeteria and canteens still sell trans fats, sugar and empty calories by the ton.
As for bags, paper is biodegradable, so I guess the only reason for a tax on them is to save our forests. Plastic bags don’t rot — but on the other hand, there isn’t all that much to them: they’re very lightweight. I weighed all the bags from my last load of groceries and they came to a fraction of an ounce. A small fraction. Yes, I know, when you multiply that small fraction by the hundreds of thousands of grocery trips made every day in Seattle, you get tons of the damn things.
I suppose it’s reasonable to try to find ways of streamlining waste and reducing its environmental effects. Recycling seems to work, why not make it mandatory, like it is in many places. Meantime, I’m just getting some grumps off my chest. I’d like to be left alone to make my own decisions.
I live in the beautiful state of Washington, very far from the Seattle area. The bag tax is just another money grab by local tax officials. I think they must be testing the waters to see how liberal the local tree huggers are. If Washington wanted to do something about trash and recycling they would impose a CRV (cash redemption value) on bottles and cans much like California and Oregon. As it is, Seattle already imposes strict trash sorting policies. A friend of mine is required to have three trash cans, one for compost material, one for recycling and one for trash.