New York state Assemblyman Micah Kellner has introduced a bill that would impose a 25 cent tax on every plastic bag issued by New York City retailers. Every year the city sends 5.2 billion plastic bags to the landfill.
“I want to make it a faux pas to be seen on the street with a plastic bag,” said Kellner, a Manhattan Democrat. “While we may use plastic bags for a couple of minutes to bring home our groceries, they stay in the environment for thousands of years.” Kellner is sponsoring a bill, introduced late last month, that would impose a 25-cent tax on every plastic bag used to carry groceries or other store merchandise in New York City. The same bill would incentivize the use of reusable shopping bags — made of canvas or thicker, sometimes recycled plastic — by allowing grocers to give them to consumers if they leave a quarter as a deposit. After a year, the unclaimed quarters would be swept to City Hall’s coffers. A tax break would be offered to cover “a majority” of the cost of reusable bags, which cost over $1 on the low end, more if you want hemp or recycled cotton.
Unsurprisingly, plastic bag manufacturers are opposed to Kellner’s bill, with one industry spokesman saying, “By that math, he’s taxing a family $3.75 every time they go to the grocery store — money they could use to buy milk for their children.” Kellner, the state’s only openly bisexual legislator, can often be found outside of Upper East Side stores where he hands out reusable bags with his name on them. “I’m the Justin Bieber of tote bags,” he says.