A citizen petition initiative will reach the Assembly tonight, calling for a tax on each plastic bag a person receives at some retailers.
The initiative would place a 15-cent tax on each plastic bag a person gets from a store. There is an exemption for senior citizens who have CBJ senior citizen identification.
This proposal would not apply to all retail stores within the city and borough, but would only apply to stores that have an annual gross revenue of $15 million or more, with an average taken across five years.
The tax dollars collected would function the same as a regular sales tax, and would go to the city’s General Fund.
“It is the purpose of the tax imposed under this chapter to minimize the use of plastic shopping bags and encourage the use of reusable shopping bags, thereby reducing the impact of discarded bags on the marine and land environment of Juneau and Southeast Alaska and contributing to the general revenue of the City and Borough,” the proposed ordinance states.
When an initiative petition has enough signatures and is brought to the city clerk, it must immediately be brought forth to the Assembly.
On Monday the Assembly has several options for this proposal: introduce the ordinance, table it, vote it down (which would send it to the voters), or send it to committee. The Assembly has 45 days to take action on the initiative, but the clerk’s deadline for ballot preparation is Aug. 22, so any action after that date would push a voter-based decision to next year’s election.
In other business, the Assembly is expected to take action on extending the temporary 3 percent sales tax. It will look at sending the measure to the voters. The tax is set to expire in July 2012. The proposed initiative extends the tax for five years, and keeps the same allocation as currently exists — 1 percent to police, fire, street maintenance, libraries, etc.; 1 percent to roads, drainage, sidewalks, retaining walls and other capital improvements; and 1 percent to Assembly allocated capital improvement projects like water and sewer system extensions, emergency budget reserve, youth activities, and other public services.
The Assembly also will:
• Hear a rezoning request for a parcel on Atlin Drive and Mendenhall Loop Road from D10 to Light Commercial.
• Take action on approval of an additional $2 million for the airport runway safety project. Funds will come from a Federal Aviation Administration grant.
• Decide about appropriating $250,000 for purchasing a new street sweeper for Mendenhall Valley — which will only be used in that area of town. Funding comes from the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities from the Federal Government Congestion Mitigation/Air Quality program. Since funds come from that program and Mendenhall Valley is designated as a non-attainment area, the sweeper can only be used in that area.
• Contact reporter Sarah Day at 523-2279 or at sarah.day@juneauempire.com.
Comments (82)
Add commentGood Luck
Good luck getting that past the voters.
Simple 'Non-Plastic' Solution...
Request a paper bag and be done with this nonsense.
With so many left-wing
With so many left-wing lunatics in our fair City, I would say it stands a good chance of success.
A bag tax is not the answer.
A bag tax is not the answer. Tax to force something as a means of control is against everyone's personal freedom. The answer is to encourage, not to force.
If Safeway charged you $1 if you used their plastic bags and sold the reusable bags at the counter for $2 each, that would begin to help. Safeway would make a huge profit on the plastic bags and the people would slowly but surely quit using them. If grocery stores began doing this I'm sure things would change. Not a tax, just good business.
Costco has the right idea recycling their boxes by people using them instead of grocery bags.
Every time someone doesn't like something the solution is to tax it. It's like saying, "You may have the freedom to make your own choices and form your own opinions, but if you don't have the same view as I do you'll have to make a donation to the government." Am I the only one that sees taxation based on your personal belief as being against an individual's right to property? Isn't tax used to fund government, not force your belief on others?
the origin of plastic bags
It was the eco-fringe that forced plastic bags on us in the first place (they didn't like us using tree waste to make paper bags). I was happy using paper bags, which are made of a sustainable resource and which break down and add organic material to the environment. Remember that the next time you draw down your trust fund to pay your member dues to SEACC.
We don't need another tax.
We don't need another tax.
by the way...
who is behind this intitiative? who filed it? what group?
Taxed Enough Already
I'm so tired of Obama putting all these taxes through.
hmmmm
Why make it apply only to large stores? Are plastic bags from small stores good bags?
It's more of the same attitude where people associate success and size as good or bad. Not sure I would support the tax anyway but I sure don't support biased implementation. If we want to tax plastic bags let's start with a tax that applies to everyone. Then lets have the discussion over whether to do it.
Sheeple being sheeple
Another wrong headed initiative trying to force certain groups opinions on all the rest of us. Why not tie into the ordinance that everyone must ride a bike to the store and that every purchase over $10 must include 25% tofu and granola? As to the "temporary" sales tax, no doubt the sheeeple will vote for that again. Seems to me it is time to reduce the size of government and to begin to undue much of the foolish regulations that have compounded over the years.
It's got us talking about it at least...
Maybe a tax isn't the right way to go about it, but this issue is something worth bringing up. @wren has the right idea - stores simply need to start charging for plastic bags. This has the full effect of making people THINK about their choices. A tax will not have the same effect, but how can we encourage stores to make this change?
Grocery stores in a number of European countries already charge for plastic bags. As you're checking out, there is a box of bags at the register. You pull out as many as you think you need and you are charged anywhere from 15- to 20-cents per bag. As a result, you see a much higher usage of reusable bags because the choice to use plastic is a conscious one, not passive.
It'd be much better if the Assembly could work with local stores and incentivize this method of dealing with plastic bags instead of adding another tax to the rolls.
Maybe that works in Europe
But this is America. Our forefathers fought for freedom and that freedom involves using a plastic bag!
Why do we still even call it
Why do we still even call it a "temporary" sales tax increase? It sure seems to be a permanent thing and they budget it in like its always going to be there.
I hope it passes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxNqzAHGXvs
watch this and then tell me we should keep using plastic bags and other plastics. I'm not a greenie but I want to help this beautiful world. I use reusable bags when I remember them and don't leave them in my car, 1 they hold more and your canned goods or glass items don't fall out when you're unloading your car, 2- I use them for carrying stuff down to the boat.
Either way, I'll still use my reusable bags and if you're not, I hope you consider starting to.
Recycle
I recycle mine piking up dog poop.
We share this planet
Available at: http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=177166
UTO NI YALO
Lee-Anne Lee And Jonathan Smith
Sunday, August 07, 2011
We are pretty much in the dark out here in the North Pacific.
Hardly any news from home or anywhere else for that matter.
It's just us, the wind, the Ocean, the odd albatross and all the rubbish you would think of. Countless plastic bottles of different shapes and sizes, plastic, nets, ropes, 50kg gas bottles, truck tyres (with rims), fishing buoys, PVC Pipes, plastic plates, plastic cups, plastic paint trays, light bulbs, plastic carpets.
All of these we are logging every minute throughout the day.
We picked up huge nets and cut it up and filled up several extra large garbage bags and so much more.
We wished that we had a bigger drua and enough food and water to stay out here collecting all this rubbish to clean up this ocean as best as we can. We have not caught any fish in the last two days which goes to show how bad pollution has damaged the fish stocks.
We are thousands of miles from any land mass. Alaska to our North, San Francisco to our East, Hawaii to our South, Japan to our West.
All this rubbish comes from the land and ends up way out here in the middle of the North and South Pacific Ocean, our home.
People need to realise that we depend on the ocean for oxygen.
We learn it in school from a very young age that the ocean is important for us to stay alive just like the trees on land.
We learn in history that our ancestors whether in the pacific or Europe were once cannibals but they respected nature to the point of worshipping it.
If we do not do anything about saving our Ocean, future generations are going to look back on us and brand us as barbarians for what we're doing.
The sad part about all of this is we all know that we are wiping out the ocean and driving species to extinction yet we continue to destroy our ocean.
We as individuals need to start doing our bit in saving our ocean. Whether it be throwing back the undersized fish that we catch, teaching our children not to litter and pick up rubbish even if it's not theirs, that is a start to making a difference.
Apart from Steven Tawake losing his balance and falling overboard a couple of days ago trying to recover a fishing buoy, we have more or less been becalmed and trying to find wind so we can continue moving. After that episode of man overboard drama, Angelo nicknamed Steven "Captain Planet".
We are currently in the middle of a huge high that just does not want to move. I guess as humans we can never be satisfied. We get too much wind and it's rough so we complain, we don't get enough wind and hardly moving and we complain. But that's nature and out here in the middle of nowhere you learn to respect nature the hard way.
You take what's given to you and no amount of whining is going to change anything.
Those on deck this afternoon were in stitches laughing about how the different crewmembers are taking a bath which has become quite an amusing event on board. With the water so cold at 15 degrees and a very cold chill in the air, a few of the crew resort to push-ups, sit-ups and even skipping before taking their saltwater bath.
Then there are the different ways of actually bathing.
Some start by wetting their feet first then moving up their body.
Some feel that you should wet your head first then each hand, then their body. Some feel you should just take the whole bucket and wet your whole body one go.
I know that we will surely welcome a warm bath when we reach land.
Today we received an email from the Traditional Master Navigator "Jacko" (Jack Thatcher) from New Zealand who was on board from Nuku Hiva to Hilo teaching our traditional navigators.
He says the Fiji Rugby Team will be hosted in Tauranga during the Rugby World cup and that he will be their Tauranga Liaison officer at least for their welcome.
He said he would take the Uto ni Yalo paddle which we gave him as a gift along to show them that the Uto Ni Yalo are holding the real deal flag up for Fiji and that should give them some motivation to do the best they can.
All the best boys.
We can will not hear the commentary or watch your games on TV but we'll be cheering for you out here in the North Pacific Ocean.
I think most times we are not fully aware of what we are actually doing on this voyage until we meet the many people at the different places we visit then we are humbled and honored by their welcome and their generosity.
As we travel on we receive numerous emails supporting our voyage. All of this makes us realise that this voyage is actually bigger than us.
"Te Mana O Te Moana" is about recovery of our Oceans and our spirits. It's about saving the Oceans for future generations.
We want our children to be able to go out to the seawall and look down at the beautiful coral and fish in crystal clear water and not have to look at pictures in magazines and imagine what was once our Ocean!
omg, again
wow, here we go again.. first it was save a tree and use plastic... now its save plastic and use the STORE bought bags(2.00 and up in price).. or get charged 15 cents.umm those are PLASTIC too... well, sorry charlie.. we pay enuff for food items here in Juneau and Gasoline.. tacking on more its crazy... and 15 cents. whats next deposits on pop cans and bottles... tax this and tax that.. yall are killing people on a fixed income..
recycle lol
yep, we take extra ones at fred meyers and safeway.. they do make good terd bags.. even the baggies at the parks are plastic..
@wren: the reason we tax
@wren: the reason we tax certain behaviors is because those behaviors have harmful consequences not included in the original cost (a negative externality, in economic terms). Do you ensure your plastic bags are disposed of in an environmentally friendly way? Do you pay for it if your bags result in the deaths of wild and/or sea life? Do you pay the environmental costs associated with producing these bags? The fact is, you don't (and this applies to many products, not just plastic bags). In an ideal world, the revenue generated from a plastic bag tax would go towards mitigating these externalities, but in the real world, probably the biggest effect will be reduction in plastic bag consumption due to the tax (which is a good thing).
This isn't about belief. Belief would be forcing everyone to use a certain kind of plastic bag for no logical reason. Belief is not taxing harmful behaviors. I'd be interested to see what you think of alcohol and cigarette taxes.
Perhaps we should also tax
Perhaps we should also tax sixpacks of soda and beer - Those retainer loops are very hard on wildlife.
Bic lighters and toothbrushes are killing albatross left and right. When floating, they resemble prey species and get eaten, then fill the stomach and cant pass through effectively starving it while its stomach is full of junk.
Personally, I would rather they just do away with plastics, but they are an integral part of our disposable lives. Most plastics leach nasties into our food, but we shouldt be eating those types of foods either. Birth control pills are also decimating populations of wild life as it keeps on working even after it leaves you, as do most of our drugs. Antibiotics are wreaking havoc.
So do we ban or tax most of our current items in our lives?
vote
With the current assembly I doubt they'll let voters decide the implementation of a new revenue source. They will just implement it.
As the song goes
Beware the pennies on your eyes
"More than a dozen bans in
"More than a dozen bans in California have been met by lawsuits filed by plastics companies, contending their product was being discriminated against."
Calling all lawyers. Why is it okay to discriminate against only large retailers? And why will seniors be exempt? How 'bout you're exempt if you have 2 or more kids? Discrimination everywhere?
15 cents sounds pretty hefty. Most other places charge 5 cents, it appears.
Turning The Tides is behind this.
http://capitalcityweekly.com/stories/070611/spe_853383540.shtml
Time to show up at the Assembly meeting tonight and sway their opinion.
@kpawsuh: yes, those things
@kpawsuh: yes, those things are all problematic, but none of them are as widespread as plastic bags.
Personally, I'd like to see a deposit on all recyclable items you pay up front and can get back when you take the items to the recycling center (like they do in some states with aluminum cans).
Not as problematic? You got
Not as problematic? You got your head in the sand, buddy. Take a look at the garbage patch in the pacific. there is a whole lot more there than grocery bags. In fact, I would hazard a guess that grocery bags are a small percentage of whats there. You see them in the trees in the dump, so you think they are a high percentage. Worldwide, I dont think so. I've spoken with the scientists doing the necropsies on albatross and bic lighters, toothbrushes and pens are killing these magnificent birds. Fishing line and six pack loops are known to kill thousands of animals. there are several species of frog and salamander that are becoming endangered due in large part to our recycled drugs. Please cite the research that supports your assertion that plastic bags are more of a problem.
big difference
PP there's a big difference between a deposit & a tax, I could get behind a deposit
No One Reads Links
I can read my own favorite radical -right blogs.I guess it is hard for some to make a concise point on their own. This is a comment forum, not a peer review journal so no need for citations to prove a point when the links go to what amount to opinion pieces.
"the Ocean Conservancy found
"the Ocean Conservancy found that plastic bags were the second-most common kind of waste found, at 1 out of ten items picked up and tallied.[3]"
http://www.cleanair.org/Waste/wasteFacts.html
Think about it, kpawsuh. Any time you buy an item at the store, you get a plastic bag (if you don't bring a reusable bag, which most of us don't). Most people don't smoke or go through an appreciable number of Bic lighters. People go through far fewer six-packs than plastic bags. Even people who fish don't throw away fishing line every time they go out. But plastic bags are ubiquitous. And very few are recycled.
(and people who "reuse" them for their dog's poop and just leave them on the side of the trail are NOT helping anything)
Good Grief!
Where does it end? CBJ is becoming Juneauites "Big Brother" and wants to tax citizens on every little thing they don't like--tobacco tax, plastic bag tax, where's the "fat tax?" And what exactly will CBJ do with this extra tax income--use it to pay their AEL&P bill because their increase wasn't budgeted and they have a short-fall?
I am against this tax; it's downright ridiculous. Concerned citizens railed against paper bags because it was killing trees which brought forth the plastic bag; now they rail against plastic bags. Next they'll find a reason to be against reusable bags.
Costco quit selling their large reusable bags--I've been asking since last fall and have been told they're "redesigning" the bag and are not available. I wouldn't mind buying their large reusable bags since I'm not thrilled about breaking down their extremely sturdy boxes after shopping and I could use them at other stores since I have a large family and volume shop for groceries. However, I don't think it's right to go after the large stores only--if you're going to create a plastic bag tax, it should be applied across the board.
As for the 3% temporary tax; who does CBJ think their kidding? This "temporary" tax has been in place forever, why don't they just make it permanent?
And how many prescription
And how many prescription drugs are taken? And no water treatment plant takes them out. Maybe the fish leap out of the water to avoid it? Try talking to the marine biologists studying the garbage patch, like the Algolita research team. Or talk to the biologists on Midway Atoll, working with the albatross mortality, or the turtle biologists in Hawaii. Plastic bags are definitely harmful, but none of these folks put them at the top of their lists of headaches. Try talking to the people in the feild doing the work rather than listening to sound bytes from organizations with political agendas. Oh, and I use paper when it is a choice and I recycle the ones that are foced on me.
No More Taxes
I thought they were making plastic bags more biodegradable now. Why don't we give a tax break to companies that use biodegradable plastic bags, rather than tax the already struggling population at the grocery store. There is nothing wrong with those plastic bags they make out of corn. They also have ones that break down when exposed to UV light, but I don't think they would be very effective in Juneau. Also, quit littering. Just a thought.