Letter to The Editor: It's Time To Bag The Bag Tax
The following is a letter to the editor regarding the recent implementation of Montgomery County's bag tax.
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The following is a letter to the editor from Todd Berman, a North Bethesda resident and frequenter of Potomac shops, regarding the new Montgomery County bag tax.
I'm not sure if it's a law or a tax. Well, I do know...it's a law. And a tax.
Under the guise of saving the Potomac from plastic bags, the Montgomery County Council approved a 5 cent per bag tax that went into effect on Jan. 1 - and 16 days later, I can tell you - it is taxing!
No longer can one go out to "run errands". A carefully crafted strategy needs to be devised that would allow enough bags to be carried in a car (or bus) and then into and out of a store that one frequents. Case in point, if one goes to the Strosnider's at Falls and River - how many bags do I need and what size? Will they be large enough to carry gallons of paint should I see the base coat I needed but never bought? Do I bring them back to the car, unload them and reuse them at Starbucks - or do I use a smaller bag? What about the victuals I need at Safeway? Oh, that chicken breast that leaked into my fabric bag I brought in? Maybe I won't see it and instead will re--use it for my visit to Rite-Aid and my prescription pick-up. Yuck!
For the county council to think that somehow the bag tax is positive for the "quality of life" in Montgomery County - think again. It's turning us into "bag people". The annoyance of carrying bags everywhere is a hassle. Add it to traffic congestion as another "problem" the council has created and now thinks they can solve.
The Montgomery County Council can't decide if a "teen curfew" can be instituted or even tried, but get them thinking about a new revenue source and they are all ears and "ayes."
My take on the new law after 2 weeks - Bag It!
Do you have an opinion about the Montgomery County bag tax? Send in your thoughts as a letter to the editor! Email katie.griffith@patch.com for more information.
AJ Allen
2:17 pm on Thursday, January 19, 2012
Amen. This is just another example of busy-body elected officials dictating the way in which free Americans conduct the most mundane of behaviors while simultaneously avoiding tangible and far-reaching issues of budgets, safety and real (as opposed to imagined) quality of life issues.
Maria Fusco
10:49 am on Friday, January 20, 2012
And Leggett passed it saying it was "for the environment, not the revenue." He passed it the same WEEK that he TOLD US that he was destroying a 30 yr established ORGANIC farm that physically sits up the hill from Potomac River. Is it environment or revenue?
MJ
12:46 pm on Tuesday, January 24, 2012
It's Ok... it used to irritate me every time I went to the Safeway and would hear, "Please indicate the number of bags used", now all I hear is " Please vote for anyone but Leggett".
KG Cook
3:10 pm on Friday, January 20, 2012
The two of you who think it’s such a burden to bring your own bags when shopping are just plain LAZY! It's just about getting into a new habit that helps our environment and ultimately does save money for the county. You know what I find annoying? Seeing plastic bags all over the road and in the trees!!!!!!!!!!!!! Stop whining about this new law and embrace the change and start asking how you can improve things in our county. And to set the record straight, the organic farm's permit has been extended until August.
MocoLoco
3:50 pm on Friday, January 20, 2012
Why are newspaper bags not taxed at $0.05 each? And, why do farmer's market participants get an exemption from the tax? Those bags are made of the same plastic and they stay in trees just as long.
Jonathan Meyers
4:37 pm on Friday, January 20, 2012
This law works. It works in DC. Yes, it's a change and yes there may be times that it will cost you a few cents. Our gas tax has not been raised in years, this is the least we can do...
Maria Fusco
6:25 pm on Friday, January 20, 2012
To Kristin ~ I never said that I was against the bag tax; rather, pointing out that Leggett said it was for the environment the same time that he slated destruction of 30 yr. estab. organic farm ~ which is it for: revenue or environment? And the farm's lease was only extended to Aug 15th ~ still slated to be destroyed. It is a "certified" organic farm: Only one of it's kind in our county, and only one similar in all of MD. It makes sense that if one is truly for the environment; then one would want to keep the certified organic farm (that grows heirloom seed) that would improve the County (use it for education).
KG Cook
5:38 pm on Saturday, January 21, 2012
I apologize for misunderstanding your point of view. I could not agree with you more about the significance of Nick's farm. It makes me sick to think about it.
MocoLoco
1:02 pm on Saturday, January 21, 2012
The shoplifting concern is one I have thought of as I carry my bags around. I can imagine how much harder it is for stores to monitor for shoplifting now that people walk in and out with bags that it is hard to see if they are more filled than when the person came in.
The other thing that ticks me off is that the County Council ignored the self-correction--people increasingly using these bags. Rather than let people get to the right place, they passed some feel-good law, which helps hide their lack of progress on the real issues facing the county. "No, we haven't addressed jobs and housing, but we did pass this bag tax."
KG Cook
5:29 pm on Saturday, January 21, 2012
to MocoLoco: I personally have no idea about the two provisions you mentioned earlier (or shall I say exemptions) in the new law. I will say that the absolute majority of the people who go to a farmer's market will bring their own bags. If it were up to me, I would have banned just the plastic bags (like cities such as San Fran, Portland and areas of certain countries such as India and Australia) and left it at that. But this 5 cent tax is better than nothing and it brings light to the problem.
Richard Rice
5:34 pm on Saturday, January 21, 2012
It is totally rediculous to have to bring your own bags, eveen just for one item.
At the Kensington Safeway, rather than bringing the smallest size bag I had
for one jar of mayonaise I needed, I carried it out to my truck in my hat!
The clerk put an OK STICKER on the mayo (not the hat). When I get my starbuck's coffee for the 1-1/2 time frame I buy it I just carry it out without any bag.
KG Cook
5:46 pm on Saturday, January 21, 2012
WHY do you need a bag for ONE item? Use your god-given hands to carry it out and then put it in your car! It's totally ridiculous that you feel its such an imposition to have to carry something without the use of a bag. Think of the big picture ... no trash flying around, no petroleum bi-products leaching into the ground ...
Richard Rice
6:13 pm on Saturday, January 21, 2012
The Safeway clerks in Kensington insist that you have your items in a bag:
PLASTIC, PAPER, CANVAS or in my case they allowed this one time my hat!!!
(Kristin; it is not my idea to waste anything! KENSINGTON SAFEWAY IS INANE AND STUPI9D!!!!!
MocoLoco
8:13 pm on Saturday, January 21, 2012
Montgomery County exempted the plastic bag (often double-bagged) that your Washington Post comes in. Interestingly, the Washington Post supported the bag tax. How unseemly!
TBerm
8:02 pm on Monday, February 6, 2012
Has anyone else experienced a new social awkwardness? You get your bulging shopping bags to the checkout line at Target in Rockville and now it's unclear about whether the customer unloads the bag onto the belt and then who bags after check-out. I mean it's like a game of chicken - who's going to cave first - the customer or cashier. The cashiers behave like it's not in their job description to empty customer bags onto the belt. To quote Kornheiser, "this bag tax really STINKS!"