Paper or Plastic Part 2: New tax on bags proposed in DC

I heard this AM on the news that Washington DC is considering taxing all shoppers that get a paper or plastic bag at grocery, convenience and other stores in the District. The 5 cent tax would go to help clean up the very dirty Anacostia River. While I generally support this to a) help clean up our local waterways, and b) to help promote the use of re-usable bags, alot of people may not bring their re-usable bags with them for an un-planned small purchase at the local CVS or Rite Aide, buying another re-usable bag is just more waste, so would force many to pay the tax anyway.

How about getting some more R/D on better ways to make a bag for practical use that is not so harmful on the environment, and in the mean time, along with a modified tax on paper and plastic bags, offer a 2 or 3 cent recycling bounty for plastic bags collected, just as some states do for bottles and cans?

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