$180,625 to Fight 20-cent Bag Fee

The American Chemistry Council is apparently very committed to getting the Seattle bag tax/fee repealed. They have invested about $180,000 or about $8.00 a signature to get a repeal on the ballot in the next election. It looks like they are fighting it as well as fighting a similar fee proposal in the California State Legislature.

I've addressed this issue twice before and it's getting on my nerves more and more. This devastating fee or tax (I'm not sure when it changed to a fee from a tax) is entirely avoidable by investing in a set of reusable cloth or canvas bags. Seriously. All you have to do is go out and buy yourself some reusable bags. A $5.00 investment or less will do you for almost all of your shopping need and will have a positive environmental impact. In fact as a part of this new law Seattle is planning on giving out at least one free reusable bag to everyone in Seattle (the exact details of this plan haven't been forthcoming though and that is a bit worry some.)

It is true that even $5.00 is a trial to people who are only just making it or even not making it well. What I'd like to see is one of the local environmental groups get some money together and bulk buy bags to distribute in the lower income areas of the city. Something like this would eliminate what I see as the only legitimate objection to this fee/tax.