Poll: How Are You Adjusting to the Bag Tax?

Less than a week since the Montgomery County bag tax went into effect Jan. 1, the back-and-forth over the May 2011 law that created it continues.

Montgomery County has posted a list of Frequently Asked Questions about the bag tax (along with answers) on its website. 

We’ve selected some comments from Patch users on Some question why it seems as if the tax unfairly targets plastic bags at grocery and retail stores--but not those used by other businesses.

“Exempting newspaper bags shows how ridiculous this law is," adding that "... those newspaper bags are just as plastic as the ones from the grocery store, yet they are exempt.”

Other Patch users don’t understand why paper bags are included in the bag tax:

“It's a shame that plastic bags have been lumped in the same category as paper bags," "Seems to me that it's the plastic bags (not paper) that are the target of this well-meaning law. We haven't used plastic bags at grocery stores in a LONG time; we always use paper bags. And we re-use those paper bags to take newspapers to the curb and for our kitchen garbage - for which we'll now have to buy plastic bags! (Or, more likely, pay the 5c for the paper grocery bags.) Paper bags should have been exempted. Those great paper bags from Trader Joe's, MOMarket, and Whole Foods are worth the 5c for their usefulness at our house.”

The county FAQ singles out plastic bags as “the most commonly found items in waterway litter” but says that paper bags also contribute to litter. However, it's not just about the environment, according to the FAQ: "In Montgomery County, exempting paper bags from this bill would significantly reduce retailers' profits because of the higher cost of stocking and supplying paper bags to customers. This was not an acceptable option for the County."

Moving beyond the plastic vs. paper issue, some Patch users want retailers to do more to lessen the consumer burden:

“If the bags are so cheap, why can't the retailers pay for them?"

A Facebook page called “Bag the Montgomery County Bag Law,” promoted by Elefant, features photos of dogs with speech bubbles like “The bag law is a-paw-ling,” but had only received eight likes at the time of this article’s publication. Another Facebook page, “Kill the Bag Tax,” is more focused on the D.C. bag tax, but has gotten over 43,000 likes.

Three-quarters of respondents to an unscientific Patch poll back in November did not think the tax would have much of an impact on pollution.

But Ed Murtagh of GreenWheaton argues that the bag tax will help fight litter by going directly to the source.

“While some folks are complaining that the 5 cent bag fee is going to be a burden, let me say that cleaning plastic bags out of Sligo and Rock Creek is also a burden,” he wrote