Our nation’s capitol has decided to raise taxes. This is nothing special in and of itself. The items taxed have people up in arms. The city of Washington, D.C., has begun taxing five cents for every grocery bag. The city hopes to increase reusable bags and cut down on pollution in the Anacostia River. Instead, it has increased pollution in business models.
The ploy has forced non-food stores to eliminate the sale of impulse-buy food items at the registers. Some stores make the majority of their profits on non-food items, yet 20 percent of their business could come from food sales. That 20 percent has had to disappear.
The tax is made all the more complex by the exceptions that stores must sort through to see if they can get away with not charging for plastic or paper bags. Some food-related items the city legislature will allow to be bagged tax-free, some not. Some goods MUST be bagged in paper or plastic, so the city makes the judgment on if it will be taxed. More confusing still, restaurants are not required to charge for doggie bags, but most restaurants do not realize this. Patrons walk out of dining establishments with their food in their hands sans support. This exercise happens in liquor stores as well, causing customers embarrassment at either their purchase or when the food spills to the ground. A sandwich shop must charge for a bag unless it has tables and chairs, but even then it must go to the extremes of using 100% recyclable bags made up of at least 40% recycled material with which to begin and have orders printed on the bag to recycle it.
OK, stop. All this for some lousy bags? This cultural way of thinking is spreading. There will be towns in California imposing this tax before the end of the year if some have not already. Here in Middle America, reusable bags are sold left and right, so this tax could make its way to the more conservative parts of the country as well.
A consumer poll in The Washington Post showed shoppers split on the tax. Some do not mind having to haul in a ton of reusable bags to shop for groceries, or paying for a convenience stores have always covered before, or the fact that this better for environment. Some do mind, choosing to shop in Virginia to avoid the tax, or like the convenience of free bags in their local grocery store, or being able to make a spontaneous stop for a few items without being nickeled by the Man.
The city declares it would be happier with earning less revenue from this tax, since it would mean the Anacostia would be cleaner. I find it hard to believe the D.C. coffers would not miss the $3.5 million it projects the tax to collect this year. Maybe it is the cynic in me that predicts the tax on reusable bag sales will go up in an inverse relationship to the decline of the new plastic/paper bag charge revenue stream.
Now get this from The Wall Street Journal: “Stores keep one cent of every five cents they charge for bags, and two cents if they give customers a credit of at least five cents for each bag (of any sort) that they bring to the store.” Understand? Do not worry, it took me three readings to wrap my mind around that one. Think about how clerks and shoppers interpret that mess at the checkout stand every day in the capitol.
I am not against saving the environment. I am just more for free enterprise. Half of customers do not have a problem with this tax. So be it, they can buy their recyclable bags and shop with those. Personally, I avoid using a bag whenever possible. It is one more thing to have to put somewhere when I get home, and it is wasteful. Allow customers to choose to be environmentally conscious on their own, but do not force it down the throats of the other half. That makes folks resentful and mistrusting of the government.
How about this instead? More bag recycling centers outside grocery stores. Finding cheaper ways to manufacture reusable bags. Advocating recycling in our schools. Rome was not built in a day, nor will consumers’ views on recycling change in a day. But it will change. People are more and more aware of their impact on the environment all the time. We are not talking about oppression, civil rights, discrimination, etc.; we’re talking about grocery bags! Not only does the government not need to force change down consumers’ throats, but it disrupts the economic balance of the marketplace.
Environmental policy should not have a large impact on the minute workings of the economy. Some folks take their business outside the city. Some risk the loss of items due to not using bags when they probably should. Some have anger and stress increase when they enter the grocery store. And some simply factor in the additional $10 cost each year by cutting out $10 in another part of their budget. I am no economic expert, but taking $10 out of the revenue stream of the private sector and putting it into the revenue stream of a government entity that claims it does not want this revenue seems like it would damage the marketplace.
People need to take more personal responsibility for their lives, environmental impact, and wallets. They should not be looking to the Man solve their problems. As the Lord giveth, He taketh away.
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