11.7.2008 9:23 AM

NYC Mayor Wants a Plastic Bag Sin Tax

At Six Cents a Bag, the Tax Would Raise $16 Million -- For a Time

Comments

Last day for plastic bags in San Francisco.

Last day for plastic bags in large grocery stores in San Francisco.

Photo: Photodisc / Getty Images

By Dan Shapley

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to add the Big Apple to the list of localities taxing plastic bags -- 6-cents a pop.

While the groundswell of support for this kind of tax in the past year or so has been aimed primarily at discouraging plastic bag via such a "sin tax," this initiative as the added bonus of raising much-needed public money at a time of record budget shortfalls.

The estimated $16 million that the tax would generate is a drop in the bucket of the deficit left by the collapse of Wall Street firms, which typically provide a huge percentage of the city -- and state's -- tax revenue.

But if past practice holds, as the New York Times points out, the revenue stream will dry up. Because people will quickly stop paying for plastic bags as they instead opt for reusable bags they bring to the store.

COMMENTS ()