Texas Democrat Proposes Money Grab
Wednesday, March 4th, 2009Now that the Washington DC Democrats are pimping all the tax increases they can, the local Texas Democrats are following suit:
State Rep. Rafael Anchia (D-Dallas) is proposing a seven cent per bag tax on those cheap plastic bags favored by grocery stores, pharmacies, and big box retailers.
“This will incentivize people to move away from plastic to either bringing their own bag, or moving to paper which is easier to biodegrade, and easier to recycle,” Anchia told 1200 WOAI news.
He says the seven cent per bag tax will go toward local recycling programs.
“Some recycling programs are taking it on the chin, and this would be a state subsidy so those recycling programs could continue, and the subsidy would come out of the seven cents.”
This is a blatant reach into the wallets of Texas residents for no other reason than this guy wants more taxpayer money for his redistribution. How do I know this? It is simple logic, really:
- The reason given for this tax is that plastic bags are bad for the environment, so if we tax people for using them, fewer people will use them and therefore fewer bags will end up in landfills.
- The obvious answer to this problem is to propose a BAN on the use of plastic bags by these stores, which would force everyone to use either paper bags or cloth bags, thus preventing bags from even getting to the landfills.
In any event, it isn’t the State’s job to subsidize recycling businesses with taxpayer money. However, if this were to pass, it would be less than a week before this guy would propose that revenue from this tax be used for several other “projects” he wants to start, and then the tax would probably increase.
In the end, this guy doesn’t care about the environment or even if you like to use plastic bags. He just wants more money out of your wallet. In fact, he probably wants you to use plastic bags; that way he gets more money. If he really cared about the environment, he would have proposed a plastic bag ban; but he can’t get your money that way.
If this seems familiar to you, you are right. Remember a few years back when State Attorneys General went after the Tobacco companies for millions and millions of dollars? This was the same scenario; they didn’t want you to stop smoking, they just wanted smokers to pay the government for smoking. Again, if they cared about your health or the health of the people around you, they would have pushed for a ban. Ironically, these days many municipalities are instituting smoking bans in as many places as they can.
The Dallas Morning News is behind the idea:
Sure, Texans could do this on their own, and many already have. But Anchía’s bill would speed the transition, quickly raising consciousness about this plastic poison – the bags that will outlive us all.
Perhaps paying 7 cents will compel consumers to use common sense at the check-out by taking a pass on the plastic.
Of course, their reasoning is incorrect — a ban would be the fastest way to transition from plastic to alternatives — but Democrats have long enjoyed the friendship of the Dallas newspaper.
Rep. Anchia needs to learn a thing or two about government. His first lesson should inform him that behavioral modification via taxation should be a last resort, it it is used at all.
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