New ‘fee’ on bags is tax
So, now they’ve gone after our plastic bags. The General Assembly has imposed a 10-cent tax on the bags that supermarkets and dry goods stores give customers. Ostensibly it is an environmental move. “We must protect the environment,” say its supporters. The fact that the bags – many of them anyway – say they are recyclable, which should be the magic words, seems not to be of any consequence.
Like many taxes imposed on taxpayers, the “reason” for the tax is not really the reason for the tax. If the plastic bags are a) reusable; and b) recyclable we have to question the reasons given by the powers that be in the General Assembly. That is why we used the word “ostensibly” in the paragraph above.
You see, the game was given away when it was determined that the legislators in Hartford are hoping for the same windfall they get from bottles and cans. The estimate we saw for the new tax is somewhere around $22 million in revenues. And, of course, the lawmakers would bristle at our calling it a tax. They would prefer “fee,” we’re buying the bags. We prefer calling it what it is, a new way to nickel and dime us into a new revenue stream.
The Connecticut General Assembly presides over a state that is fast imploding on its economic self with a declining population and ballooning budget and unfunded liabilities. Rather than take a hard, long look at revenues and expenses – you don’t buy votes by cutting spending – the Assembly will look a more and more taxes – fees – in order to gain more funding.
This money will be funneled into the General Fund and used to pay for more programs, more bureaucrats and more votes. That is why we are against the tolls on state highways. The gas tax was implemented to pay for state roads and bridges, but over the years was siphoned off into other places. The same will happen with tolls. Profligate spending won’t be curbed, it will be enabled. Just like an enabler gives an alcoholic a drink, new fees and taxes give legislators more ways to spend.
We hope many taxpayers work around the new tax. Supermarkets are planning not to use the plastic bags. That’s one way. We hope shoppers will use their own bags. Though there is a part of us that would look to thwart the eco-fascists in our society that promoted this bill. They will be happy with the bill and its results. They are ideologues.
Ultimately, we hope that the $22 million will never be realized by the assembly. It can happen. Until the General Assembly realizes it has tapped out the taxpayers, more and more commodities are up for grabs.
Just once, we’d like to see some fiscal restraint; but given the track record of the Connecticut General Assembly, its Democratic majority and RINO minority, we won’t hold our collective breath.
A fair hearing
The West Haven City Council has scheduled special meetings, July 31 and Aug. 1, next Wednesday and Thursday, for special meeting regarding the Charter Revision Commission’s recent report. This newspaper, meanwhile, is running an on-going series on the details of that report.
The public should pay special attention to both. The Commission has recommended some far-reaching reforms that are designed to streamline and improve city government.
We hope the recommendations are given a fair and honest hearing and review. The revisions are an attempt to upset the status quo, never a comfortable thing for the political establishment. But, there is ample evidence to support these reforms, and the public must do its part to inform itself and give its views.
The council, meanwhile must be open minded on the report and allow the voters to make a decision. Over the decades similar attempts at reform were met with obstinate opposition, and nothing ever got done. We hope it is different this time around.