RSSSeattle voters right to sack bag tax
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This editorial appears in the Aug. 26, 2009, Yakima Herald-Republic.
Suddenly the Emerald City has lost some of its green luster.
Last week's resounding defeat of Seattle's 20-cent-a-piece fee on disposable shopping bags may lead outsiders to conclude the Pacific Northwest's love affair with environmentally friendly causes is overstated. With 57 percent voting against the tax, that could be a reasonable conclusion.
But not so fast. Supported overwhelmingly by the Seattle City Council, the bag tax -- while well meaning -- was onerous and misguided. It deserved to be dumped by the voters.
Last summer, Seattle's council members passed an ordinance establishing the 20-cent fee that shoppers were to pay at grocery, drug and convenience stores. With the revenue generated from the tax, the city intended to provide at least one reusable bag per household.
Of course, processing the fees and arranging for the distribution of the reusable bags create another level of government bureaucracy that, from our point of view, is more of a menace than the plastic bags themselves.
The Virginia-based American Chemistry Council, which represents the plastics industry, gathered enough signatures to put the measure on last week's primary ballot. During its campaign to defeat the ordinance, the bag lobby spent $1.4 million to get its message across to voters.
"It's a costly and unnecessary tax," argued the plastics council.
Supporters of the bag tax blamed the sour economy on the defeat and the fact they were outspent 15 to 1 by the plastics industry.
We would argue the lopsided defeat is also a sign that "behavior management techniques" rarely succeed when politicians get too far ahead of the public. The fact that San Francisco was the first city in the nation in 2007 to drill a stake through the heart of plastic bags should have given the Seattle council pause. But council members assumed the populace was in lock-step with them and charged ahead.
Wrong.
Persuading through public education would have been a better use of the council's time and money. Residents of the Pacific Northwest get the idea of keeping the environment as green as possible. They just don't need to be bludgeoned with it.
Leveling a hefty tax was misguided from the get-go. Mix that in with a whopper of an economic recession and you end up with a measure fit for only one thing -- the landfill.
Well done, voters. Once again they have proven to be smarter than politicians. Imagine that.
* Members of the Yakima Herald-Republic editorial board are Michael Shepard, Bob Crider, Spencer Hatton and Karen Troianello.
That's all well and good I suppose,but just what the heck ya gonna do with all this plastic floating around??
Report ViolationThis was such a no brainer. The YHR liberals are patting themselves on the back for opposing a tax for once. Meanwhile, they write editorials in favor of policies that are bankrupting our country:
- a failed stimulus package
http://www.yakima-herald.com/stories/2009/02/19/anti-stimulus-chorus-is-off-key
- government run healthcare
http://www.yakima-herald.com/stories/2009/07/10/change-in-health-care-system-it-is-necessary
- federal cap-and-trade (carbon tax)
http://www.yakima-herald.com/stories/2009/02/13/it-s-best-to-leave-this-to-the-feds
- just about any school bond/levy ever proposed
Good job YHR on taking a principled stand against a $.20 bag tax!
This editorial is poorly researched and proof that the ACC's $1.4 million was well-spent in its attempts to influence the public.
First of all, the final tally was 53 percent against, 47 percent for the fee.
Second, it is not a tax (and certainly you cannot really call .20 "hefty" with a straight face). Courts have clearly stated again and again that a tax generated money for a larger general fund purpose. This fee would have generated money to cover administration fees at the smaller stores, and money for recycling programs and more bags through the bigger stores.
Besides, if it had acted like the .15 cent fee in Ireland, 90 percent of people would have done what the fee intended all along--brought in reusable bags so they didn't have to pay it.
How hard is it to bring your own bag?
And the American Chemistry Council is supported by more than just your vaguely mentioned "plastics industry"--it is Exxon Mobil, Dow Chemical and some of the other big corporate spenders. You are basically congratulating them on telling Seattle what to do.
Pat yourself on the back. You've successfully been duped by big oil and its spending machine.
apstyle,
Do you really think your wallet can tell the difference between a tax and a fee?
You environmental extremists attack every manufacturing and energy industry in our country then wonder why our jobs get shipped overseas, unemployment is high, and energy prices skyrocket. Fortunately, even Seattle liberals reject your attempts to control our lives when they have to pay for it.
If all the money spent, fighting pro or con on these initiatives, was spent on the problem, there wouldn't be a problem to begin with. Too much money thrown at the political process. Our forefathers didn't have a clue it would get this out of hand.
Report ViolationRe-usable bags are a great idea. I for one am tired of seeing these plastic grocery bags alongside our highways, flying through the air on a breezy day and clinging to fences. The people in our country have become so reliant on the over use of plastics. The cloth reusable ones would help cut down on the burden our land fills are feeling.
Report ViolationEducation would indeed have been more of an admirable route, but even here at http://www.simplygreensolutions.com/ we know people will still bring reusable bags to the market and the habit will slowly move towards reducing more waste whenever possible - even bringing reusable canteens to 7-11 and fast food places too . . .
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