Now they're going to tax us on Plastic Bags...

[Krdshrk 3,878]

Sigh. another tax that we'll have to suck up and deal with. WTF. I reuse/recycle my bags...

 

http://www.nj.com/po...proves_b_1.html

 

 

N.J. Senate committee approves bill charging 5-cent fee for plastic shopping bags

 

They clog rivers and streams, they pile up along the shoreline and they fill up landfills. And under legislation advanced today, plastic shopping bags may also soon cost customers 5 cents apiece at most stores.

 

 

Under the bill (S812), stores would be required to charge the fee beginning in 2014, offer only recyclable paper or plastic bags by 2015, and they would have the option of providing a 5 cent credit to customers using reusable bags.

 

Money raised under the bill would go toward cleaning Barnegat Bay, according to the bill.

 

The measure was approved 4-0, with one Republican in support and one abstention, by the Senate Environment and Energy Committee. The bill was first introduced in 2008 but has yet to gain much traction in the Legislature. There is expected to be an identical bill in the Assembly.

 

The measure was widely supported by environmentalists who testified that plastic bags make up a large portion of litter found in the state, take a lot of oil and energy to produce and take even longer to naturally decompose.

 

“The 5 cents is not a fee, it is a penalty on those that do not protect the environment," said Jeff Tittel, head of the New Jersey Sierra Club. "The people who bring in canvass bags get a rebate. This is an incentive for better behavior.”

 

In 2010, the District of Columbia instituted a 5 cent charge on plastic bags, resulting in an 80 percent reduction in bag use in the first year, The Washington Post reported last year. Earlier this year, Los Angeles banned plastic bags.

 

Sen. Jennifer Beck (R-Monmouth) said a lot of plastic materials were part of litter found in the environment and an effort to reduce the waste should be focused on all kinds — bottles, cans, wrappers — and not just plastic bags.

 

"Is that really our issue?" Beck said. "Because now we’re just going after one element of a big problem, which is plastic being thrown into the environment. To me a ban on bags is kind of like nipping at the edge."

 

David Asselin, executive director of the American Progressive Bag Alliance, a group of plastic bag manufacturers, said the bill would amount to yet another tax on residents and would be hurtful given the recovering economy.

 

"Taxes on American-made plastic bags are regressive," Asselin said. "They’ll hurt jobs here both in New Jersey and across the U.S. Taxes on paper and plastic grocery bags, they can hurt New Jersey’s working class, have a negative affect on jobs and burden businesses."

 

An annual "beach sweep" in 2011 by the environmental group Clean Ocean Action found plastic store shopping bags ranked ninth among all litter collected. Plastic pieces ranked first, followed by plastic bottle caps/lids, plastic wrappers, plastic straws, cigarette butts, plastic foam pieces, plastic bottles, and glass pieces.

 

"We see this legislation is a very common sense approach to changing behaviors," Tittel said. "The only people who pay a tax are the litter bugs, are the people who throw things out."

[A-Tech 8]

“The 5 cents is not a fee, it is a penalty on those that do not protect the environment,"

 

First off, "its not a fee, its a penalty.." Splitting hairs aren't we?

 

Second, are they using the same fortune tellers to predict who will throw the bags into the streams, as they are using to predict all gun owners are going to commit a crime?

[djg0770 481]

It used to be that you could count on the newspapers for using proper English. There's no such thing as a canvass bag. Canvass is a verb, not a noun. Canvas is a noun. Furthermore, canvas bags can be a health hazard if you inadvertently transport leaky meats and then use that bag later for produce.

[ruger9 0]

SO, screw them... don't use plastic bags. I haven't for years. The reusable bags hold alot more, and no tearing, anyway.

 

Looks like people will be paying $0.05 a piece for their dog poop bags now lol

[CMJeepster 2,781]

They should outlaw plastic bags becaue they could potentially suffucate a child...

[ruger9 0]

They should outlaw plastic bags becaue they could potentially suffucate a child...

 

And with SEVERAL in most people's pantries, SEVERAL children. I think we need a PBB.

[A-Tech 8]

And with SEVERAL in most people's pantries, SEVERAL children. I think we need a PBB.

 

I probably have 200 plastic bags from grocery shopping....I have dogs to I never had to pay for their....em, clean-up utensils. DON'T TAKE MY BAGS AWAY! I can surely find a "sporting purpose" for them!

[djg0770 481]

I probably have 200 plastic bags from grocery shopping....I have dogs to I never had to pay for their....em, clean-up utensils. DON'T TAKE MY BAGS AWAY! I can surely find a "sporting purpose" for them!

 

OMG I have to start hoarding poopy bags!!!

[ruger9 0]

I probably have 200 plastic bags from grocery shopping....I have dogs to I never had to pay for their....em, clean-up utensils. DON'T TAKE MY BAGS AWAY! I can surely find a "sporting purpose" for them!

 

Duuude, you're going to jail for a loooooong time......

[Krdshrk 3,878]

Seriously - I repurpose them to use as garbage bags....

[notmetoo 41]

 

Looks like people will be paying $0.05 a piece for their dog poop bags now lol

 

LOL! That was my wife's first thought!

[notmetoo 41]

So... this money goes to cleanup Barnegat Bay. Why not Trenton? Or Camden? Or the Turnpike?

 

And, weren't plastic bags "the answer" to killing trees for paper bags?

 

ARRRRRGGGGGG!!!!!!

[Secret Squirrel 3]

I need to leave this damn state

[vladtepes 1,060]

I need to leave this damn state

 

PA welcomes you

[GRIZ 3,369]

So... this money goes to cleanup Barnegat Bay. Why not Trenton? Or Camden? Or the Turnpike?

 

And, weren't plastic bags "the answer" to killing trees for paper bags?

 

ARRRRRGGGGGG!!!!!!

 

I've been told that plastic bags are made from waste products from petroleum refining. This gave us a material that "saved a tree". Now what are the plans to dispose of this petroleum waste? Dump it in the bay?

 

I think they should make the stores like Wal Mart use better plastic bags so they can be reused. Paper is obviously more expensive or Wal Mart would use them. See how far you can carry a couple of boxes of ammo or a couple of cans in a Wal Mart bag if it isn't doubled.

[JackDaWack 2,895]

A penalty would assume the person did something wrong.... if owning or using plastic bags warrants a penalty what was the offense? We have littering laws for a reason.

[halbautomatisch 60]

I've been told that plastic bags are made from waste products from petroleum refining. This gave us a material that "saved a tree". Now what are the plans to dispose of this petroleum waste? Dump it in the bay?

 

I think they should make the stores like Wal Mart use better plastic bags so they can be reused. Paper is obviously more expensive or Wal Mart would use them. See how far you can carry a couple of boxes of ammo or a couple of cans in a Wal Mart bag if it isn't doubled.

From what I heard on the news, this tax would also apply to paper bags.......

[halbautomatisch 60]

“The 5 cents is not a fee, it is a penalty on those that do not protect the environment,"

 

First off, "its not a fee, its a penalty.." Splitting hairs aren't we?

 

Second, are they using the same fortune tellers to predict who will throw the bags into the streams, as they are using to predict all gun owners are going to commit a crime?

Tittel is a douche, he's never seen a project that he could support. A few years ago when there was talk about restoring Lackawanna cutoff rail line (which is expected to relieve some traffic on route 80), he came out against it because he said it would encourage sprawl into northwestern Jersey. Well, he doesn't want people to drive either. If it were up to him, we would all be living in caves eating nut and berries, because hunting is also a no no in his utopia.

 

Well he did get one thing correct, it's not a fee. Rather, it's a tax, calling it a penalty would imply that using a disposable shopping bag is illegal.

 

I reuse most of these bags in one form or another if they are still intact, this is just another poorly thought out knee jerk law.

[MikeK77 8]

So how will the store charge? Walmart for example get's people that like to put 2-4 things in a bag, and hardly filling it. I mean loaf of bread in a bag by itself....chips by them self....before you know it, you have 1 thing in each bag

[johnott 5]

And those plastic bags keep getting thinner and smaller... I guess more money for the bay eh? The insanity in this state just keeps getting worse.

[NJDrew1 0]

If I have to pay fifteen cents a bag, I'll throw them in the river. Tittle can go twittle his tittles.

[johnott 5]

"They would also have the option of giving a five-cent credit to customers who packed groceries in their own reusable bags."

 

Operative words "the option".

[Kasanova 2]

Luckily for me I shop at BJ's 99% of the time, they dont use any bags at all. So in your face!!!!

[tony357 386]

Their full of shit, Biologists have been working on that bay for years, weed killers,fertilizers and pesticides are the root cause of the bays problems..

[CMJeepster 2,781]

OMG I have to start hoarding poopy bags!!!

Way ahead of ya! We've got more bags than poop. I might start using them myself, but I see a market for them forthcoming.

[Zeke 5,504]

Tittel is a douche

^^^ this, +1000!

We've ( offroad communities) been fighting this guy for yrs!

[raz-0 1,263]

Eh if they pass it, I'll switch from my reusable bags to just ordering the plastic ones by the case, then stop reusing them and recycling them.

 

Mostly use reusable bags, but occasionally deliberately don't because I reuse them for tons of stuff.

 

Or heck, I wonder how many you can cram in a tube the size of a 12oz can. Repurpose some old vending machines and park them out front of supermarkets.