Questionable Tax Math
Let's talk about the D.C. plastic bag tax for a second. This insidious little imposition is the single most irritating thing about living in the nation's capital. And that is saying a lot.
Here's how it works: if you require a plastic bag because you are on the run, that'll be five cents, please. If you permanently tote around reusable bags, congratulations, you just made a profit of five cents on the birthday card, lawnmower, and sweatshirt you bought from Target because you get a reduction for every bag you don't need.
So, you are penalized for needing a bag and rewarded for not needing a bag. But there is no middle ground. Tax me five cents, fine, feel free to coerce me into not using one of the thousands of bags that have already been manufactured and will never be returned into petroleum and returned into dinosaurs. But bestow a gift of five cents on extra bag-carriers? I don't understand. If this is a real tax, then I'm paying the penalty and the other person just pays the cost of their items. Oh no, though. Washington has got it figured out. Tax me five cents and then give someone else five cents. Thereby canceling it out.
Dear D.C., you are not actually collecting any money off this enterprise. Try again.
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Comments:
Oct '11
Re: Questionable Tax Math
So, if they're adding five cents to your total, and subtracting five cents from the total of someone saying "I don't need a bag," it seems to me that the actual tax is ten cents; you are paying ten cents more for purchases where you receive a bag than for the equivalent purchase without one, right?
Weird optics, but they may be making money somehow.
Dec '10
Re: Questionable Tax Math
It's not about revenue; it's about bending you to their will. It's like the force only it shows up at the bottom of the receipt.
Oct '11
Re: Questionable Tax Math
Hmm. Am I reading you right? I have never noticed anyone subtracting $.05 for every grocery bag I say I don't need. Maybe that's because I always forget my environmentally sensitive tote bag and end up paying the tax after all. Perhaps when I stop off at the store on the way home, I'll say I need a bag but don't need a thousand of them and see where that gets me.
I will say this. I'm guessing that those who complain about the bag tax have never paddled around a slalom course of them floating on the surface of the Anacostia. If they actually do what they say are going to do with that money, namely, clean those bags out of the river, then I don't mind so much.
Oct '10
Re: Questionable Tax Math
Here in the République et Canton de Neuchâtel in Switzerland, starting next January 1st, we'll be paying a fee for every garbage bag collected. For decades, we've paid a per-household fee for garbage removal based upon the number of people living there. Now, we're to pay a fee per bag, based upon its maximum volume, which means that when you start to put the stuff into the poubelle at the start of the week, you're expected to estimate the volume you'll put out at the end.
I always bought the 110 l bags because they handled the worst case when lots of stuff came in with packing peanuts, but no more. Now I will buy the 35 litre and empty one into the larger when it fills up.
It isn't easy being green. Dumb, but not easy.
Re: Questionable Tax Math
It's very confusing. And I don't think it's uniform. But I swear, every time I bring reusable bags, tick-tack-tick-tack on the cash register, ding I've saved money. Maybe it's just those particular stores, in which case they're being incredibly silly.
Re: Questionable Tax Math
Kelly B: So, if they're adding five cents to your total, and subtracting five cents from the total of someone saying "I don't need a bag," it seems to me that the actual tax is ten cents; you are paying ten cents more for purchases where you receive a bag than for the equivalent purchase without one, right?
Weird optics, but they may be making money somehow. · Dec 9 at 1:03pm
The math is so questionable even I can't figure it out. But every time I steal my roommates bags (because I refuse to own them), I get a discount. Sometimes, however, when a bag is not necessary at all in the situation, there's no plus or minus five cents involved. D.C.! I think being a city-state makes them confused.
Aug '10
Re: Questionable Tax Math
Interestingly, NPR reported on the dangers of the reusable bags here, noting (scratch that, beating you over the head) that the study was funded in part by an organization that represents plastic bag makers. Of course they also issued a correction that the American Chemistry Council also represents cloth bag makers.
The danger? E. Coli - probably caused when users don't wash their bags as frequently as they need to. Oh and the title is pretty misleading since it says "Bacteria May Grow in Reusable Grocery Bags" and out of 87 tries they found bacteria in 50% of them. Plugging in "Cumulative Distribution N=5 p=.5 x=0) (which means assuming I have 5 bags what are the odds that e.coli is growing in 0 of them) Wolfram alpha told me that the odds of having no bacteria is .03125 or that there is a 96.88% chance that I have bacteria in at least 1 bag.
The Daily Caller had a report on the specific cloth bags in DC here - (they contain lead).
The Independent found a UK Govt report that cast all kinds of doubt on the environmentalism of cloth - to bad it wasn't released
Edited on December 10, 2011 at 12:04amApr '11
Re: Questionable Tax Math
Herein lies the problem. I don't for one second expect that the revenue raised (if any) will go for this purpose. I agree with you that cleaning up the Anacostia is a worthy goal, but I have no faith that it will magically happen because of the silly bag tax.
Oct '10
Re: Questionable Tax Math
Makes little sense. Just take an old pair of thermal underwear bottoms, tie off the legs and use that for the bag. When jaws drop from the green bag folk in the line behind you.... Just say, I wash mine what about you ?
If things are this insane, have some fun with it all. Bet your checkout times would be faster as well.