Posted on 08/19/2009 10:24:59 AM PDT by MountainLoop
SEATTLE (AP) - Seattle voters have rejected a 20-cent fee for every paper or plastic bag they get from supermarkets, drug stores and convenience stores. The city's incumbent mayor didn't fare much better than the fee, trailing two challengers in a bid for a third term.
With about half the ballots counted in the all-mail vote, the bag fee was failing 58 percent to 42 percent in Tuesday's primary.
City leaders had passed an ordinance to charge the bag fee, which was to start in January. But the plastics industry bankrolled a referendum to put the question to voters in Tuesday's election.
Plastic bag makers have lobbied hard to defeat the fee, outspending opponents about 15 to 1.
Adam Parmer, a spokesman for the Coalition to Stop the Seattle Bag Tax, said the results show the bag fee was "a costly, unnecessary tax" and the wrong approach to changing behavior.
"Seattle voters have made it clear that this is not the approach they want to take in protecting the environment," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at komonews.com ...
Watch them try it at the state level now
Seattlunatics caught a rare moment of mental clarity yesterday - they rejected the idiotic “bag tax”, put their mayor into 3rd place (he’s going down!, and voted overwhelmingly in favor of a Conservative Woman (Susan Hutchinson) for County Executive (they carry all the weight for the entire county).
I would say voters sent a message that they are tired of liberal insanity and that it is no longer fashionable here!
HA! HA!.....Maybe they should bag Nickels?.....
It wasn’t the voters that didn’t want the tax, of course. They were just duped by ‘Big Plastic’. No bias here.
When we lived in Japan, the Dai-Ei (similar to Wal-Mart) came up with a simple solution to encourage reusable bags-- a stamp card. Anyone bringing their own bag collected a stamp on their card. When the card was filled with 30 stamps, you turned it into the customer service counter for a 300 yen (roughly $3) gift certificate good anywhere in the store.
No government edict-- just a simple gesture by the store.
Similar system is in place for a warehouse like market called Sav-A-Lot in our area. If you want bags, you pay anywhere between 3 cents and a dime when you check-out. Most people either bring their own or use empty boxes at the packing counter. The cost saved by the store is reflected in lower prices.
That appears to be happening. He is presently in third for a two candidate general ballot.
Nannystate.
If you don’t WANT the bag, don’t take the bag. It is not for the city to penalize those who do. And where does the money go?
Will the city start imposing other new taxes on basic offerings?
Where’s the shoe tax? They have midblock croswalks in Seattle. Someone should have to pay for the paint.
Marion Barry has no comment.
Every time I’ve been to Seattle, it has impressed me to be a place lacking in self-confidence, wanting to become an ersatz Amsterdam.
I mean......don't you think its FAIR for you to pay for those bays?.....what about the EARTH?...do you not worry about the dear and holy earth?....
not only should YOU pay for those bags, but should also pay $.25 per cup of your beloved coffee that you live on....
how selfish of you all.....
hypocrites and limosine liberals the bunch of ya!
They tax everything just for more money and not what they say it’s for.
Imagine what would happen. People would stuff way too much in each bag to avoid paying for more bags, they would break and food/glass/whatever would spill all over the place.
The bag tax actually applied to both paper and plastic. The idea was to get you to bring your own bag.
But I fully understand your jab at the mentality of the left.
Obviously this right-wing, anti-planet city hates black Presidents and only cares about money.
/sarc
Ikea charges 5 cents for plastic bags, but the money goes back to Ikea and helps keep prices low, and helps pay for the bags. This 20 cent charge would not go to the stores that provide the bags, but would be a tax.
Next stop: California, where the voter will happily pass the measure.
Same thing happened to my library. I asked for a bag, and they said that they don’t give out plastic bags anymore, but for a $1, I could buy the offical Cuyahoga County Public Library cloth bag. I mean the cloth bag industrial complex must be stopped!!!
Still there is no way I am paying a buck just to buy a bag for something I know that isn’t happening.
ping
Where are their cloth bags made? China?
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