Some New York State lawmakers are hoping to halt an upcoming tax on plastic bags in New York City.
The five cent fee for disposable shopping bags is scheduled to take effect on Feb. 15th.
New York State Senators Simcha Felder, Martin Golden, and Tony Avella and Assemblyman Michael Cusick will join colleagues on both sides of the aisle at a news conference Sunday at City Hall to discuss their efforts to stop the tax.
They say there is still time to stop the Mayor and City Council from implementing it.
Critics argue the tax is a bad deal for working and middle class New Yorkers.
The City Council passed the law to cut down on single use plastic bags, which are rarely recycled and end up as trash in landfills.
(Via: ABC News)
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2 Responses
Just a couple of points (there are many more)…
Stores will have no incentive to provide decent bags. They can charge more nickels for your need to have enough bags that will actually make it home intact.
Stores will also have no incentive to pack things efficiently. They can charge you for more bags, so the more bags you use, the more they rake in.
The bottle collectors will have more to go through our garbage for. Instead of just leaving a mess of your recycling garbage, they will now just empty out your bags so they can return them for the nickels.
People who do reuse bags don’t necessarily clean them. Think leaky meat, then reuse those bags for clothes, and you will have germs rampant.
That’s just the beginning. This is just nothing more than another tax…
It’s not a tax if the nickels don’t go to a government treasury. As I understand it, the nickels go to the retailers’ treasuries. Call it a government-mandated nuisance charge (“GMNC”) if you want to use a word that makes people mad, or think of a more annoying phrase that makes a nasty abbreviation, but do not call it a tax, because it ain’t a tax. It’s not even a tack. Arguably, it is a “tactic” for reducing non-biodegrading landfill.