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of Americans do not attribute global warming to human activity, and do not believe it poses a serious threat, and would therefore likely not support a tax designed to reduce our contribution to it. Surely many Connecticut residents fall into this camp.

If these reasons aren't sufficient to oppose the ban, consider one further point. Will the bill will even accomplish the goals of its proponents? To answer that question, we can look to the experience of other regions that have passed similar laws. In March of 2002, for example, Ireland enacted a tax on plastic shopping bags. Did it work? Indeed, use of the bags fell by over 90%, (although it should be pointed out that the Ireland tax started at 20 cents per bag, and was later raised.)

But that wasn't all that happened. According to an article by Skaidra Smith-Heisters published on the Reason Foundation's website in April of 2008, the Ireland tax also caused the sale of kitchen garbage bags to jump by 77%. People were apparently reusing their grocery bags, and needed the plastic bags whether they got them for free or not. According to the same Reason article, an online MSNBC poll conducted in March '08 found that 38% of respondents chose what grocery bag to use based primarily on its reusability, while 28% said they thought first of environmental concerns. And I can speak to that from personal experience - our plastic grocery bags become the bags that hold our aluminum and plastic recycling, if they aren't recycled themselves. We would probably buy plastic bags if we didn't already have them around.

So this tax proposal is a bad idea. It will be a cost and annoyance for very little gain. Proponents of the measure can accomplish much of what they seek by simply encouraging recycling, and by realizing that many of the bags they see carried out of stores will be put to further good use without nary a government action required.

Learn more about this author, David Shane.
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