Holden slams Council approval of paper bag tax
Queens lawmaker says fi ve-cent surcharge yet another sign that ‘we are taxed to death’
BY MARK HALLUM
After the City Council
approved a bill that would place
a tax on single-use paper bags,
Councilman Robert Holden is
calling the move burdensome
on the middle class.
Set to take place after a
state-wide ban on plastic bags
takes effect, the paper bag tax
would put the cost of five cents
on each paper bag used in a
transaction at store across
the city.
“As if it wasn’t enough that
we are taxed to death in every
facet of our lives, the New York
City Council has just passed
another regressive tax,”
Holden said. “While ensuring
our environment is clean for
generations to come, a line
must be drawn somewhere.
I voted NO because this
legislation will only add
more pressure on our senior
citizens who already live on
a fixed income, and will once
again put the burden on the
middle class.”
The plastic bag ban was
passed in the budget at the
beginning of April making
New York the third state in
the nation to take a stand
against the bags which are
not biodegradable and land a
heavy impact on wildlife.
California imposed its ban
in 2016 and Governor Andrew
Cuomo proposed the ban a
year ago place emphasis on
an earlier time when shopper
only had paper bags to turn to.
Mayor Bill de Blasio signed
an executive order on April 11
intended to be the beginning
of the end for reusable plastics
and said while even paper
products should be reduced,
there needs to be option for
low-income New Yorkers.
“We are looking at a
whole host of questions
around reusable products,”
de Blasio said.
“This is something I’ve
talked about in terms of
getting rid of plastic bags
and paper bags that we’ve got
to come up with some kind
of option for folks of limited
means. And we’re looking at
Photo via Getty Images
everything. We’ll be looking
at plastic bottles. You’re going
to see a number of things
coming out.”
The Citizens Budget
Commission backed the
fee on paper bags pointing
out that they while they
are biodegradable, their
production alone is not in
the best interests of the
environment.
“Single-use bags are an
environmental problem,”
CBC testimony read. “Plastic
bags make up about 2 percent,
or 71,000 tons, of the City’s
residential waste stream; they
cost $12.1 million annually to
landfill and take more than
500 years to decompose. While
paper bags will degrade if
landfilled, they also have
negative environmental
impacts. They require
substantial water to produce
and are heavier to transport
than single-use plastic bags,
leading to higher associated
greenhouse gas emissions.”
Disagreement over how
the reusable bags should
be managed has been
debated going back to early
2017. Councilman Barry
Grodenchik argued against
a five cent fee on plastic bags
proposed by the mayor and
blocked by the State Assembly
with a moratorium.
“The five cents collected per
bag would not benefit the city or
the environment, but instead
go directly into merchants’
pockets. It is unfortunate
that the state government
had to get involved, but it
was necessary,” Grodenchik
said. “I will continue to fight
to permanently block this
tax. Surely there are better
ways of achieving our shared
goal of responsible
environmental stewardship.”
The five cent fee on paper
bags is set to go into effect
on March 1, 2020 upon being
signed by the mayor.
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