A new 5-cent tax on shopping bags (Maryland Liberal insanity)

http://money.msn.com/saving-money-tips/post.aspx?post=3c4a9e5c-b856-4c4f-b052-d7ae0fdbbab1&rrurt=1&rrcontrolId=ratCntrlBinary ^ | 1/21/2012 | MSM money

[Morgana]

We now have to pay a 5-cent tax for each paper or plastic shopping bag we get at stores in Montgomery County, Maryland. And I've already gotten suckered into it twice on opening day. (This new tax went into effect Jan. 1 -- kind of like my free Wendy's Frosties, only it doesn't require me to bring my own cups!)

I remember when the bag trend hit Washington, D.C., a couple years back, where everyone was charged 5 cents every time they needed a bag for purchases of food and alcohol (including, as luck would have it for me, Subway). It seems now it's spread to the great state of Maryland too. Which is good and bad.

Good because obviously we're trying to save the environment here and many of us like nabbing those bags left and right without a care in the world (or at least I used to).

Bad because now it's costing us every time we do it. And double when you extra-bag it for milk and other heavy items at the grocery store -- quickly making your total add up. (I think on our last trip we used like 25 plastic bags, which would have come to $1.25.)

[Morgana]

Shopping bag tax in Maryland by our lib wacko democrats who have nothing better to do.

[musicman]

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[martin_fierro]

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They're pulling the same nonsense in the hinterlands of Santa Cruz County.

But don't worry -- it's just the unincorporated areas, y'see.

[muawiyah]

This will simply give Souvrn' Marylanders (where the Libs live) another excuse to let dog poop lie there unscooped.

It's bad enough as it is, and now this.

I simply won't go there anymore!

[GAB-1955]

It's not entirely wacko. Loose plastic shopping bags are a plague if they get into the rivers or the Bay, and the Bay's oyster and crab fisheries are a big industry in the state. I've seen the problem close up around Curtis Bay, where the landfill is. There was a similar problem with cleaning the Anacostia River in Washington, which of course feeds into the Potomac.

I don't think that a tax on bags is the best approach to reducing this form of pollution, however.

[mardi59]

It won’t be long before the complaints start rolling in as the reusable cloth bags take much longer to pack and the lines will get longer. If they think the wait is long now, just wait.

[Venturer]

I wouldn’t worry too much about the Oyster fisheries, they are damned near dead now.

The crabs made a slight increase last year, but it pretty much sucks too.

[momtothree]

I live in this G*d forsaken county and yes... it is a pain in the tush for many reasons. Most are convenience but one reason is infuriating. Most people used those plastic bags for other things. Many used them as doggie doo-doo bags, lined their small trash cans with them (I did), or simply returned them to the stores for other uses. I now buy small plastic garbage bags. So, the amount of plastic being used isn’t going down... it is something that we must purchase now. It isn’t just in grocery stores or liquor stores either. It is at the shopping malls (from what I have read and been told). Go to Lake Forest Mall and purchase some clothing... better bring your own bags or you will be charged. Back to school shopping at Walmart... better bring bags. FYI: the local news said that VIRGINIA is considering a twenty cents per bag charge. Stupid is contagious.

[libertarian27]

It’s sweeping the nation! *thud*

Clips from the show Portlandia (my new favorite comedy show)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLW0MnqH0r8&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgqf0yX5r4A

[Boomer One]

Thought they did a study and determined that cloth or reuseable bags were actually bad for us as they harbored bacteria. Since we have to pick up dog poop or face a $250 fine, plastic bags have been my preference.

[Leep]

It’s not entirely wacko.

---

I don’t think charging 5 cents a bag is going to srop people from littering. What it does is slip another tax in there. No, end.
Besides I thought thats why we pay taxes in the first place?

[Ditter]

I caught Portlandia once and it was hilarious but I didn't make a note of the time and day. Those are actors from SNL I have watched them for years. They are great!

[stickandrudder]

Paper or Plastic? Doesn’t matter to me.
I’m bi-sacksual!

[hal ogen]

It has nothing to do with the environment. It has all to do with the basic philosophy of DIMocRATs: SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND...SPEND .

[mardi59]

Paper or Plastic? Doesn’t matter to me.
I’m bi-sacksual!/

LOL That was quick thinking!

[momtothree]

Those Youtube clips are hysterical, Libertarian27! When they put that man into the child safety seat... I almost fell out of my chair laughing. Thanks!

[FrankR]

I love articles like this about the "blue" states, they make me think God everyday that I live in a red state, below the Mason-Dixon line.

The sad part is, all of those "blue" states are running people out by the thousands, and they're coming here.

[BobL]

Like I noted in the other thread, there are options:

---

Stay ahead of the game.

http://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/product.jsp?productId=170094&pid=CSE_Froogle&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=109680

Each time they mention this crap in Texas, I buy 1000 more. I’m at 4000 now and will go up to 10000 if it really becomes law here (something always possible with this governor)...easily enough for the rest of my years.

[Georgia Girl 2]

I agree. Once in a great while Europe has a better way to do things than we do. They have been using their BYOB policy for years and I personally think its a good idea. We try to remember to take our cloth bags into the store and most of the time we remember. The plastic bags are so wasteful and they never degrade. I am not an environmental wacko but the bring your own bag thing makes sense to me.

[blueunicorn6]

GET THAT GOVERNMENT JOB YOU’VE ALWAYS DREAMED OF!!!!! APPLY NOW TO BE A GOVERNMENT BAG INSPECTOR!!! Send your resume, along with a blood sample proving you’re related to one of our present employees, and copies of your campaign donation checks to the Democrat party, to P.O. Box 67. ARE YOU A DEMOCRAT? WELL THEN IT’S IN THE BAG!!!!!