Mayor Michael Bloomberg has announced plans to levy a tax on plastic bags within New York City. “The most beautiful thing” that kinda creepy, kinda deep guy next door from American Beauty ever filmed (watch the clip below) is not going to come for free anymore in the Big Apple, if Hizzona has his way, with Bloomberg proposing adding a 5 cent tax for each bag.

The Mayor says the plan could raise $16 Million in revenue each year while encouraging shoppers to cut down on the number of the plastic bags they use from retail stores and move toward using their own reusable bags for their shopping needs.

The sentiment behind this is spot on, but my question is: Why only 5 cents? Let’s say you go to the supermarket and get a standard five bags filled with groceries. You’ll be out a whopping quarter for using plastic bags rather than your own, which in Manhattan is about enough to buy you a sip of coffee, without the cup.  How about $1 per bag? That’ll get people using their own bags in a hurry. But there’ll still be plenty of forgetful people walking into a place without their own bag, so the city can still raise a little money for those who take the store bags.

You can takepart in learning about getting rid of the wasteful plastic bag once and for all by checking out Abolish the Plastic Bag.

LINKS:

WCBS-TV: Bag Tax, Bloomberg Wants Shoppers to Pay for Plastic

The Daily Green: NYC Mayor Wants a Plastic Bag Sin Tax

NY1: Bloomberg Proposes Plastic Bag Surcharge