When you think about sin taxes, you normally think about things that are bad for you such as cigarettes, booze and, if Congress gets its way, soda and sugary drinks.
Now, sin taxes are taking on a different slant: taxing things that are bad for the planet.
In Seattle, there is a bill pending to add a 20 cent tax on paper and plastic grocery bags. City voters will take up the bill on August 18.
In the meanwhile, both sides of the debate are putting serious time and resources into getting the word out. The American Chemistry Council, a lobby for the plastics industry, has reportedly spent more than $1 million on efforts to stop the bill.
Proponents, however, argue that the tax will both force residents to act responsibly and will raise revenue for environmental projects such as “waste prevention, recycling, city cleanup, and environmental education programs.” Seattle expects to raise about $3 million per year from the tax.
A recent poll in Seattle shows a slight majority, 51%, of voters oppose the tax. However, another estimate shows that nearly 90% of Seattle residents regularly recycle or reuse plastic bags. While both sides sling mud at each other, it would appear to this east coast girl that maybe it’s not so much about opposing the usage of plastic bags but being taxed on the usage.
This is what I can’t stand about these debates. The rhetoric gets in the way of the message. The real question shouldn’t be “do you care about the environment?” but “is this the best solution to the problem?” Maybe raising revenue for environmental projects is a good thing; maybe it’s wasteful. I don’t live in Seattle, so I can’t speak to what makes a good policy for the city. But I will say that I don’t believe that trying to pass a tax by labeling folks as “for” or “against” saving the environment is a constructive use of resources. It’s like saying that everyone that opposes the soda tax secretly wants to be fat.
We’ll know in a couple of weeks what the outcome is for Seattle. If the measure passes, it would tax bags at grocery stores, drug stores, and convenience stores. This is similar to the Washington, DC tax approved earlier this year which imposes a 5 cent tax on carryout bags at grocery stores, drug stores, and retail food establishments. Hmm, that would make the tax applicable to cities on the east and west coasts. Maybe the midwest is next?
Seattle has nothing on NC. Today the Outer Banks, which is a good idea, next year the State (expect big fight by plastic bag manufacturers.
Personally, I ask for paper bags at the grocery. Other stores, Lowes, JC Penney, Lowes Foods, and many mom-pop stores, offer no choice. The result is not only a landfill problem, but look at the types of litter along the road. In my youth, many a kid appreciated the occassional tossing of a Coke bottle. That meant 5 cent at the store toward a candy bar, or if you brought two, amybe a Coke for yourself.
BILL IN A BANNED BAG
Gov. Beverly Perdue signed legislation Wednesday that bans plastic shopping bags for large retailers on the Outer Banks and sent the new law back to its chief patron, Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight, in — wait for it — a plastic shopping bag.
Basnight, a Democrat from Manteo who owns a restaurant there, relentlessly pushed the bill to help rid the beaches of wafting bags. Many of his fellow Democrats saw it as an unexpected fixation. The law makes the Outer Banks portions of Currituck, Hyde and Dare counties the only jurisdictions in the nation to join San Francisco in banning the plastic totes.
Basnight said one of Perdue’s aides delivered the bag containing the signed bill and the pen used to do it. He said he’s never received legislation in that fashion in his 26 years in the legislature.
So what happened to the plastic bag?
“I hope we recycled it,” Basnight said today.
News and Observer – Raleigh, NC 25 June 2009
Evidently, plastic bags are biodegradeable! It just took a high school student in Canada to figure it out: Link. One less objection to plastic bags.