I have.

I use them for grocery shopping almost every time (saves the nickel for each one and reduces the trash), keep a few in my trunk for unexpected stops too.... but if the tax collected isn't used to reduce the expenditures from the general fund then it is just another TAX INCREASE.....

"The bag law is expected to rake in about $1.5 million a year"

"Why charge for something that has always been free?
Carryout bags aren’t really free. They cost the retailers, who pass the costs on to the customer. Too often a ‘free bag’ becomes someone else’s litter on common property. It costs all taxpayers to clean up or remove this litter. Each year, Montgomery County spends more than $3 million on trash and litter control activities -- including code enforcement, street sweeping and litter clean-up. This is a cost that all taxpayers bear in order to keep our common areas safe and clean. The bag tax defrays this cost on all tax payers. Customers who bring their own bags can now chose to avoid the cost that all taxpayers previously have had to pay to clean up the litter stream"

The point of the bag law is to reduce litter that is cleaned up costing funds out of the $3 million. It is completely your choice if you choose to pay the tax because no one is preventing you from using reusable bags. All the money goes only to environmental control efforts, so this isn't just some random Tax and Grab.

If the county makes money from Walmart bags, then it's because people going to Walmart are comfortable paying the tax.

Perfect, Corbin. Then I should expect to see a $1.5 million budget reduction in trash and litter control as half of that fund will now come from the bag tax. The citizens of MoCo should then be able to save $1.5 million in other taxes. Ha ha ha!! No chance that happens. Tax and spend, tax and spend.

? What Moco budgets and what source of taxing funds it are two different things so I wouldn't expect any amount less to be budgeted. I don't understand what you're trying to say there. In the ideal scenario, everyone stops paying taxes for plastic bags and there's no plastic bags to clean up. As a result, no tax revenue is actually collected, but the amount of money spent on cleaning up plastic bags goes down, so less tax money needs to be collected *OR* the tax money gets reallocated to other things the people/government want to do but were not able to because they were wasting it on cleaning up plastic bags.

Should all citizens brains shut down a year from now after the tax is in place and not see if it's accomplishing what was expected? Should the ideal scenario play out, should we not question if the money got reallocated to something useful or if that new allocation should be cut in lieu of tax decreases? Of course not. But to pin this tax as part of some "Tax and Spend" culture is absurd, given the fact that it is completely 100% avoidable by anyone who chooses to avoid it, unlike sales tax, property tax (even if you rent it's part of that), or income tax (unless you're jobless).

adding a targeted tax without returning the money "saved" to the citizens is a TAX INCREASE.... plan and simple.... the same excuses were used about the lottery providing funding for education.... all that happens is that the general fund is used for more programs that convert more citizens to government dependents.... STOP the TAX and SPEND cycle.... "bag tax" HA!

"As a result, no tax revenue is actually collected, but the amount of money spent on cleaning up plastic bags goes down, so less tax money needs to be collected *OR* the tax money gets reallocated to other things the people/government want to do but were not able to because they were wasting it on cleaning up plastic bags."

What part of you statement quoted above doesn't scream "tax and spend?" That's exactly why we're in the position we are in and will now be forced to pay for bags. It's a shell game, Corbin, and the people of this county contnue to fall for it.

Stephen - the part where I say taxes get lowered doesn't scream tax and spend?

Robert - I'm pretty sure this goes back into the General Fund. I've done enough research on this for today about where the money is going (see other posts), prove me wrong.

Corbin (or Ike, or whatever your real name is),

Are you serious? Everything you say screams tax and spend. Everything you say makes me believe you have drunk the kool aid that is Montgomery County government. Please tell me one instance where Montgomery County has LOWERED taxes? It hasn't happened since I moved here in 1995.
Anything "saved" gets put towards "other things the people/government want." It's the classic example of a one-party, tax and spend government.

As I keep saying, this county needs new leaders. Unfortunately, the followers never change.

This law doesn't already apply to the plastic bags restaurants dispense, since they are excluded. If you're not including the plastic bags restaurants dispense, then not including plastic utensils isn't inconsistent.

http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/mcgtmpl.asp?url=/content/pio/bag/faqs_residents.asp#14

It's a good point though - hopefully people are conscientious about decline plastic utensils if they don't need them.

Then you support the effort:

http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/mcgtmpl.asp?url=/content/pio/bag/faqs_residents.asp#11

"Revenue from the carryout bag law is supposed to go into the Water Quality Protection Charge fund. How do our residents and the environment benefit from this fund?
Montgomery County is described as a national model for how local jurisdictions should address the daunting task of cleaning up polluted streams and protecting the ones in good condition. Over the past four years, we have used the Water Quality Protection Charge to:

Inspect over 1,500 publicly- and privately-maintained stormwater management facilities to ensure they are working. These devices effectively remove pollutants before they get into our streams and reduce the volume of flood water;
Construct or retrofit stormwater controls to better treat runoff from more than 1,000 acres;
Restore and stabilize 4.3 miles of degraded stream channels and eroding stream banks; and,
Share in the costs of 151 stormwater control projects on residential, private and institutional properties."

You can read more about the WQPC here: http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/dectmpl.asp?url=/content/dep/water/wqpc.asp

Why would you think I don't know that? Unlike Wal-Mart, they are a good company in many other ways, although their CEO caught some flack for some of his views a few years ago.

Where do you shop? Only union stores?

I do the majority of my shopping at Mom's Organic Market and Giant.

The same morons who let their plastic bags scatter to the four winds and end up in our fields and streams will continue to do so. They are the same morons who brought us speed bumps in our neighborhood because they could not drive responsibly any more than they can keep track of their plastic bags. Why should the rest of us suffer?

The "bag tax" makes you think twice? MoCo and D.C. are morphing into a single entity..........not good.

Ugh, This again. You really don't think the county thought about health safety?

From http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/mcgtmpl.asp?url=/content/pio/bag/faqs_residents.asp#21 :

"Is it true that reusable bags might cause public health problems because of the bacteria from food products and cross-contamination of food?

Not if the bags are properly cared for by periodic washing or cleaning with anti-bacterial wipes. A study conducted on reusable bags in Tucson, Phoenix and Los Angeles, and underwritten by the American Chemistry Council, concluded that hand or machine washing bags can reduce the bacteria in bags by more than 99.9 percent and reduce cross-contamination of foods. More recently, Consumer Reports investigated the allegations about bacteria in reusable shopping bags and found that there were, in fact, very few safety concerns. No pathological bacteria such as salmonella, listeria or E coli were found in their research on shopping bags."

Think about the potential for reuse of a glass Coke bottle vs a plastic bag.

I find this entire hoopla over plastic bags such an opportunity for some humor here ( from where I am sitting). Hummm. I find discarded furniture, filthy-dirty toilets along a highways (e.g. MidCounty Hwy) far more disturbing. So how' bout e.g. banning indoor plumbing & resort back to OUTHOUSES. No paper Sears catalogs though for toilet paper; corncobs instead. Hummm! I live in South Montgomery Village (turning into the ghetto capital of the County) & we have that persona anyway. I suggest a half-moon on every corner as fitting/appropriate! Do, County Council, start w/the corner of MidCounty & the Village Avenue. Hummm!

This isn't only about litter on our roads, it is also about litter that travels downstream to neighboring areas (DC, PG). Also, if people choose to buy the bags and litter, then this fee helps clean up what they create because it goes to current cleanup efforts. In essence, they pay for their damage - they weren't before.

No, I don't think the county or anyone expects individuals to wash their bags with handywipes. They'll probably throw the bags in with their laundry since it's a ton easier and just as effective. And there's a third option besides reusable bags and paying the tax; Just don't take a bag with you. For a lot of small purchases, people get plastic bags that are pretty much unnecessary. 20 ounce soda bottle? Pack of gum? Even a gallon of milk with a handle?

This is meant to address problems like this:

http://ww2.gazette.net/stories/03092011/montnew184754_32533.php

"Beth Mullin, executive director for the nonprofit Friends of Rock Creek's Environment, said the group has removed 14,000 plastic bags from the creek over the past two years." That works out to 19 bags a day. If litterers had to pay 5 cents for every bag that got there, they might think twice about it.

I dont scrub my recycle bin. When it rains I leave it out. It gets rinsed that way.
I am AGAINST this bill bc IT IS A TAX INCREASE. DC taxes grocery store bags.
MoCo is taxing ALL BAGS. What reuable bag will hold back to school clothes? A gown/tux for prom/wedding/funeral? If i pick up multiple prescriptions at the pharmacy and need a bag, i'll be charged.
This IS a tax. Leggett did this sh1t on purpose bc we voted against the ambulance fees.