Letter to the Editor
Bag tax
Published Sunday, July 20, 2008
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To the editor:
How about a borough-wide tax of 25 cents for each paper or plastic bag received from stores and restaurants in the borough? The tax proceeds can be applied to property taxpayers, or litter control activities.
Those residents who don’t want to pay the tax simply use canvas tote bags, or even re-use the plastic bags they already have. I think it would help reduce the litter problem, and provide income for the borough.
Community Discussion
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how about a DNM-wide tax of 25 cents for each pointless letter to the editor?
when i find a mattress, a grill, a tv, porno, axles and car parts, and a variety of mcdonalds and burgerking cups to go around and around,...
then NO, i dont agree with you in that a tax will cut down litter.
Someone has too much time on their hands to write letters like this. Why not find the cure for cancer, or the way to reduce oil costs here in the Borough.
Next it will be the 'bag police'.
I agree that canvas bags are awesome, but anytime the word "tax" gets mentioned, everyone starts crying. Proposing a new tax isn't the greatest idea when people think they can't afford to heat their homes, fuel their cars or continue at the same level of affluence. Maybe you should call it a "societal trash retrieval contribution".
Maybe the big chain stores can do more to promote the alternative bags. I'm sure the stores would do this if enough concerned citizens out there asked them to. This is instead of having government do it for them.
maybe you misread, i could care less about some 25-cent tax proposal... as dumb as this idea is that i am even wasting my time writing to it... bags comprise of a very small, minute percentage of the trash in fairbanks. should we start taxing fast food more since their trash ends up on the ground the most? awesome idea, the only place with a $20 six dollar burger. maybe ill start bringing in my own plate and silverware with me when i go to eat.
its the whole "cus-word jar" idea. save your own nickels and dimes and dont quit your day job
Perfect blackmarket opportunity. with plastic bags costing less than 2 cent a bag should a tax be levied one could make a pretty good living with selling bags at 5 to 10 cents each....
Why give local government ideas?
I can see it now. Local government salivating at the thought of creating another dept to manage the tax and a enforcement dept........
Get'em righties!! The nerve and the gall to propose another tax! He should be tar'd and feather'd!
psssssss!
Hey
(I'm whispering right now)
Mr. Cooper...In the future just use the words "user fee"...they dont get so uppity about it for some reason?
...back on the bandwagon...YEAH GET"EMM!!!!
Maybe the big chain stores can do more to promote the alternative bags. I'm sure the stores would do this if enough concerned citizens out there asked them to. This is instead of having government do it for them.
HEA, this sounds like the now wonderful "BED TAX" that the City fights about every year.. good idea for some, but wait.....
Once a tax starts it is never ending. A highway roadblock/checkpoint on all pick up trucks is a better idea. An unsecured load, (plastic bags, cans, paper, fast food cups), can net the borough $1000.00 in one fell swoop, plus the stop can double looking for DUI's.
Have you ever pondered on where our nation is heading?
And that ideas such as the one above sometimes actually become reality?
I would suggest dropping by this interesting site with how government in GB is evolving...into the nanny from hell to say the least.
We are not to far behind I suspect...
http://nannyknowsbest.blogspot.com/
user6244, are you concerned about how many of your civil liberties have been taken away since Bushco took over?
Sure I am, but to infer that it was all at the hands of just Bush and his allies is far to short sighted in my view.
For an example:
Bush along with everyone (this includes everyone along all party lines) in congress have eroded my freedom to travel and even carry legally obtained products under the guise that all that travel are considered guilty until searched and any legal product deemed to be dangerous are siezed.
Many of the laws today that are passed by congress under the guise of protecting us from ourselves or evil terrorist seem to get passed no matter who happens to be the majority.
In other words many of the current laws supported by Rep take away my freedom to travel.
Dems on the other had have a propensity to invoke laws (and increased taxes) in the name of protecting me from myself which is just as bad if not worse when it comes to erosion your freedoms.
People that bring up ideas for goverment to impose such things as a tax to prevent plastic bags from entering the environment really haven't a clue as to why there is such a thing as a tax.
Using taxation for for any other purpose than to to run government services is an abomination in my view and falls short of it's intended purpose which was not social engineering for example.
Some of the stores will already give you so much off for reusing a bag or having your own canvas bag. We used to have a similar deal with glass pop bottles. You used to get at least a dime. It's called recycle, NOT TAX. We shouldn't get another tax, but a discount is good. The government doesn't need more money they just need to learn how to save what they now get.
Our borough is not set up for a big disposal or recycle program as the writer wants. So back to the drawing board.
Some of you people are so easy to troll.
rabble rabble rabble!
In europe you already get charged at supermarkets for any bags used. We are just behind the times. Litle changes add up you bunch of negative nancy's!
Here we go again, business as usual. The "greenies" trying to penalize, tax and/or incarcerate anybody and everybody that doesn't submit to their guilty, feeble conscience and mind of saving the planet....
If somebody is so concerned about littering, how about actually doing something about it instead of making everybody ELSE pay. Something like organizing/advertising a "community watch" program that encourages people to use their cellphone to report other people littering, with unsafe loads, etc.? I mean since they're already driving while talking on the cellphone, might as well use it for some good. And the laws already in place can be enforced, etc. Oh, nevermind, it's easier to make everybody ELSE pay and still not solve the problem! ;)
For the thrash that's already out there, let's send the criminals from prison to pick it up and get our tax money's worth instead of letting them eat, watch TV and play pool all day at our expense?
Beverage container deposit which would be refunded when returned, it reduces liter and would make Alaska a cleaner, nicer place to live. Much of the deposits which are not claimed can go for other environmental issues or what ever. This workes in many states in the lower 48. We have a lot more to preserve than many of them.
I don't know about the rest of you, but I use those plastic bags for my small trash cans in my house (bathrooms, bedrooms). Its not like i'm just tossing them in the trash once I get my groceries unloaded. I'm recycling, just in my own way. :)
All the while our local elected officials are pondering a plastic bag tax they are sipping water out of their plastic water bottles. And we all buy water at the local stores when we can get the same thing out of our home faucet. Could we start a program to stuff plastic bags in plastic bottles to save space at out garbage dump? We could all feel warm a fuzzy then.
Or we could shut down the oil pipeline that provides the products needed to make the plastics so we didn't have to spend so much time and energy trying to solve a problem that does not exist. Ah Fairbanks we need to stop these negative vibes. Next thing you know we will be spending all our plastic talk time on plastic alcohol impact zones. You gotta luv this right to free speech thing. A truely diverse community.
Great idea Mr Cooper, before you switch to the cloth bags...double wrap yourself with a couple of Wal-Mart plastics and breathe hard till you see the bright light.
I too reuse much of the plastic and glass items. The containers coffee creamer comes in handy for rice, instant potatos and much more and it's a lot cheaper than rubbermaid. You don't have to be a greeny to want to conserve Torres. There's more green stuff to save than just the trees, it is also dollars. And filling up the landfill only costs us more in tax dollars, in that they will have to expand it.
"In europe you already get charged at supermarkets for any bags used."
Oh, then I guess we had better get with the program so we can be as civilized as they are, huh. While we are at it, why don't we also up the taxes on gas by about 60%? They have that as well. And we can put more people on welfare and eventually match them in average percentage of population that is unemployed. Or maybe we can stop using bags all together and weave baskets from willows. Naw....lets just buy you a ticket to leave and move to europe.
So has this gentleman ever been inside a local grocery store?? I was in both West Safeway, West Freds & also Wal-Mart just this morning. ALL of these stores had affordable, reusable shopping bags prominently displayed. Some displays even featured various decorative versions of these bags & the price looked to be .99 on average. If you don't see these, you are trying not to. Anyone who wants to purchase these has ample choice & opportunity.
Why not just recycle the plastic or paper ones. Take them to the store with you and reuse them. Donate them to the Salvation Army or the public library. Use them as kitty litter liners. Any other ideas.
A Bag Tax? Does that mean more alimony for ex-wives?
(On a serious note, Fred Meyer gives a five cent deduction for each bag you reuse. Sometimes you need to remind the checkers - particularly at the you-scan - but those one dollar canvas bags pay for themselves in no time, and there's no government coercion involved. We can all support stores that do this, save a few pennies, and reduce the garbage flow without getting the government involved.)
Please tell me more about reusing bags at Fred Meyer? BY the time Im done unloading my cart, they have half of it checked and bagged! Another time, I said "Here is my tote", so the lady bagged my groceries in plastic bags, then placed all 4 bags in my tote!!!
aframe: Sometimes you have to say something to the cashier. Kind of a pain, but that's how it goes. If some cashier keeps missing it, mention this to customer service.
Fred Meyer management is very forward thinking on plastic bags. They're trying to all but eliminate them. A good reason to support this company.
I think that you want to give the checkers the canvas bags first, before they use the plastic to bag your groceries. I shop at Fred's every week, and the checkers have been completely cooperative, as long as the bags get to them before the groceries.
Dr C---
I think that the tax would be paid on new bags, not the old ones.
Gotcha G-les, that was how I understood it as well, though maybe that wasn't clear from my post. I just think we can get around this one without more taxes. I like to keep as much plastic out of the waste stream as possible, but I also like to keep the government down to size (which in its own way shrinks the waste stream). I like what Fred Meyer is doing. When a company makes a positive step, I try to give them my business.
I think Safeway is also giving a rebate for bag reuse, but since they don't sell ammo, underwear, or Simpsons comic books, I don't go in there very often.
Dr. C.
I was meaning ex-wives being old bags.
It's a sad day when I have to explain my jokes.
sigh....
Ack! That's funny, G-man. Guess I'm a bit slow on the uptake tonight. I blame society, for this, as well as George W., and, just possibly, the bourbon.
Dr, C.
Which government organization is paying to clean up the borrough every year when we throw out our trash along the road? Next they will mandate every purchase must be bagged before it leaves a retailer. Great! Piece of bubble gum $.05, bag to put it in $.02, tax on the bag $.25, living in a borrough full of fruits and nuts; PRICELESS!
Getting out and volunteering an hour a month to pick up around your areas can make a big difference in litter. We don't need no more stinking taxes! The borrough already mismanages our property taxes and doesn't provide decent services to the tax payers.
What's that Mayor Whitaker? You want to give away borrough land to build a biomass coal liquification plant? Sure go ahead, it will raise property values and you can raise the mil rate. The borrough couldn't have sold that land for a profit anyway. Just look at the housing market here.
I am ready to impeach the whole borrough assembly for lack of due dilligence and the Mayor needs to wake up and stop spending our taxes recklessly.
I think a bottle bill would be more beneficial - while bags litter the landscape, bottles and cans take up more space and are recycleable. A bottle bill would benefit the community by promoting recycling and it would cost the buyer close to nothing if