Councilmember Roger Berliner is once again questioning the county’s all-encompassing bag tax and is asking County Executive Ike Leggett to provide data that proves the measure is working to change behavior.
Last year, Berliner tabled a bill he proposed that would have changed the law to only tax bags at food stores such as grocery stores. That would mean residents wouldn’t be charged the 5 cent tax on bags at places like clothing or department stores.
At that time, Berliner agreed to table his proposal to allow the county executive’s office to research the effectiveness of the current bag tax. He’s now asking the county to provide his office with the data by Sept. 15, according to a letter sent by Berliner to Leggett.
“It has been one of my central contentions that bags from department stores, clothing stores and jewelry stores are not the environmental culprits that pose a threat to our streams,” wrote Berliner. “Moreover, I personally remain convinced that our county’s approach is not a model that will be embraced by other jurisdictions or the state.
“The data that I seek is data related to the scope of the current measure—and data that will help us determine whether we truly are changing behavior or just ‘nickel and diming’ our people contrary to our pledge that this tax was never about the money,” Berliner wrote.
Berliner wrote that he supports the goal of the original legislation—to discourage the use of plastic bags, which can often become unsightly litter—but that it went too far by not limiting its scope to food-related retailers.
It appears that Leggett is preparing to square off against Berliner on this issue.
“Our view is a bag is a bag,” said Patrick Lacefield, the county executive’s spokesman. “They can all end up in the street.”
Lacefield said it’s “certainly appropriate” to take a look at the tax, but points out that the bag tax remains popular with local environmental groups. He said he doesn’t recall receiving any recent complaints about it.
Lacefield said the tax raised $5.3 million from January 2012, when it was implemented, to March, the most recent date for which numbers are available. The money funds river and stream restoration projects in the county. Lacefield said a significant portion of the revenue comes from food-related stores such as grocery stores, which wouldn’t be affected by the changes proposed by Berliner, but the exact amount isn’t known.
A total of 2,165 retailers fall under the tax.
Lacefield said the county hopes to have more complete data, such as a breakdown of what type of retailers the funds come from, when the county provides the data to Berliner’s office on Sept. 15.
The District was the first municipality in the U.S. to tax plastic bags in 2010, but it limited the tax to retailers that serve food or alcohol.
Berliner wrote in his letter that “Every other jurisdiction that has addressed this issue has limited the scope of the measure to establishments that sell food—grocery stores, convenience stores, pharmacies and other food-related retail stores.”
