Results tagged “plasticbagtax”

Mayor Bloomberg's proposed 5-cent fee on every plastic bag used by shoppers would help reduce waste and raise an estimated $100 million to help the city's budget crisis, but it will probably never see the light of day now that City Council Speaker Christine Quinn opposes it. Quinn is also blocking a move to reimpose the city sales tax on clothing and shoes under $110, which would raise an estimated $394 million a year, and instead she wants to increase the city's sales tax from 4% to 4.5%.

Will the plastic bag controversy ever end? With the recent news of Bloomberg pushing a plastic bag tax, The NY Times is the latest to take a look into the sordid grocery packaging habits of New Yorkers. Perhaps as some believe cigarettes should be, instead of a tax, they just need to be made illegal; even reusable grocery bag users are finding they accept a plastic bag here and there.

“I’d pick up 50 bags a week instead of 2 or 3 if I wasn’t conscious of it,” said Mr. Thrasher, 31, a freelance writer from Fort Greene, Brooklyn. “You’re always having a plastic bag put in your hand.”

The bags generally find a final resting spot in a "balled-up pile under his kitchen sink" (warning: this attracts cockroaches!). Still, many do use them, and wonder how one might hide an open beer in public or clean up after their dog without the disposable bags.