Montgomery County’s hotly-contested bag tax netted $154,000 in its initial month, according to a report by The Gazette.
Approximately 3.8 million bags were taxed, but County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) told The Gazette the county needs more data to understand whether the tax is meeting its goals.
"We need more data beyond the first month, maybe a few months to a year," Leggett told The Gazette. "People are still getting adjusted to it."
According to the report, January’s bag tax revenue sets the county on pace to receive $1.8 million in 2012 if the first month’s numbers are maintained.
, and the county expected to earn up to $1.5 million from the tax in the first year. This money will go to the Water Quality Protection Fund (WQPF), which covers stormwater management, watershed restoration and litter clean-up.
“The executive has said repeatedly that the county does not view the tax as a revenue stream for the Water Quality Protection Charge fund—where the money will go—but rather a program to curtail waste and encourage the use of reusable bags,” according to The Gazette.
The bag tax was proposed in March 2011 to encourage residents to use reusable bags and keep plastic bags from littering the environment, however .
For more information on the Montgomery County bag tax’s first month, read The Gazette’s full report.
Have you softened your stance on the bag tax or do you still strongly oppose it? Tell us in the comments!
It is just so annoying to purchase an item and pay to place it in a plastic bag. I know that the money will go to nought-it will be placed in a " good" fund and then taken to pay for a Commissioner's car or some other non-useful expenditure. I only wish there was an election tomorrow so I could vote them all out for being so outrageous and controlling but int eh meantime I try NOT to shop where stupidity reigns.
I think the bag tax should be repealed. The penny per bag the retailers get to keep seems more like it's to pay them off to endure the complaints of customers inconvenienced by the bag tax. I'm wondering when the administrative and enforcement costs will outstrip the proceeds from the bag tax. I'm confident that it will then become a permanent line item in the County operating budget. I hope County Exec Leggett will fill us in on that.
"I don't understand why the people of this country have become so lazy and have lost interest in standing up for what they believe in. We let this pass." I agree with you Joanne... Remember this in November and vote some of these folks out of office.........afterall........."we did let them in". Show'em the door......
"When they are not receiving as much revenue, they will abolish it and move on to taxing some other frivilous thing." O'Malley will institute a user fee, revenue enhancement, tariff, excise, levy on those bags that we bring in to the store.
I am in total agreement with you! Montgomery County and the State of Md. are taxing this retired soul into the ground even though I do bring my own bag or bags with me for every purchase I make.
Except the projections are (and the point of the fee is) for a decrease the number of plastic bags used, just like what has happened in DC.
So how are you being taxed if you bring your own bags? Are you talking about other taxes? Maryland doesn't tax income from Social Security, doesn't apply sales tax to food, medicine etc. On top of the lack of taxes, the county has countless programs to offer free and reduce cost services to seniors. I certainly hope we all do enough to support you. If not, I'd love to hear what else can be done.
Yeah....it can be tough one. That's why so many of us native Marylanders have to leave when it's time to retire. I'm most likely going that route myself very soon. It's too bad really.... As for some of our more idealistic, partisan, naive and inexperienced :) fellow Marylanders, I would just say to them.....your day will come...
Realistically, how much more money are you spending on gas by going out of MoCo to shop than by staying in-county and paying 50 cents for 10 bags (if you even need that many)?
The issue of increased shoplifting is real. I have spoke with people at two different grocery stores and they both said, it's now more of a problem than it was before. One store now has a guy just standing at the entrance to "eyeball" you as you leave. O'Malley will institute a "shoplifting tax" to help off-set this problem....
I believe for most folks it's the principle of the thing. Our country has a colorful history of fighting against tax's that are perceived to be unjust. This is another one.....
Personally, my time is worth more than 5 cents per bag.
Should the Montgomery County Council have term limits?
http://maximumnewsinformer.com/?p=7473
Since you are not from around here, a little background. Plastic litter is part of a multi-million dollar problem in Montgomery County. Example, cleaning out a storm drain that is in part clogged by plastic bags in very expensive. Before the bag fee, taxpayers picked up the tab. I these hard economic times, that is ludicrous. Now users of disposable bags pick up the tab. The result? A big drop in the use of plastic bags. I was at an electronic store not too long ago. Everyone in line had some sort of purchase that could easily be taken out. Instead of automatically putting the purchases in the bag, the cashier now asks do you want a bag. Do you know what happened at that store? Every customer said “no”, I don’t need a bag for the purchase. Perhaps in southeastern NC this is not an issue or that taxpayers simply pick up the tab without question. It is too soon to tell right now, but I assume there will be a significant decrease in the cost of addressing litter so everyone will come out on top.