It’s not a tax, it’s a fee, more like a bottle deposit (except you don’t get it back). I doubt if there’s any prohibition against stores not charging customers (just as they can include sales tax in the price of an item). My understanding is that four cents would go to NJ and one cent to the store, so the store can probably swallow the four cents if they want to give out bags for free. Interestingly, the Sierra Club opposes the bill and the supermarket lobby supports it.
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