Posts Tagged ‘tax’
Plastic Bag Tax: Consumption Drops By 19 Million
Posted in Models by Kate Archdeacon on April 21st, 2010
Source: Treehugger
Image: samuel mann via flickr CC
From Plastic Bags Used in DC Drops From 22 Million to 3 Million a Month by Brian Merchant.
Washington DC’s 5 cent tax on plastic bags, instated just this past January, has already proven to have a phenomenal impact: the number of plastic bags handed out by supermarkets and other establishments dropped from the 2009 monthly average of 22.5 million to just 3 million in January. While significantly reducing plastic waste, the tax simultaneously generated $150,000 in revenue, which will be used to clean up the Anacostia River.
Council member Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6), sponsor of the bag tax bill, said the new figures show that city residents are adapting to the law far more quickly than he or other city officials had expected.
The tax, one of the first of its kind in the nation, is designed to change consumer behavior and limit pollution in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Under regulations created by the D.C. Department of the Environment, bakeries, delicatessens, grocery stores, drugstores, convenience stores, department stores and any other “business that sells food items” must charge the tax on paper or plastic bags.
I love this–I really do. A simple 5 cent tax–with revenues going towards an environmental cause voters rallied around–and consumer behavior is changed for the better in a truly big way. I love that 5 cents, which makes up a tiny percentage of total cost of your purchase even if you were just buying a bag of chips and a beverage, was enough to make consumers reconsider taking a plastic bag.
We’re going to have to wait to see if this trend continues, of course, but the results are nothing short of stunning so far–there are 19 million less plastic bags in a landfill because of this tax.
Let’s hope other municipalities–and dare I suggest, states?–are paying attention.
See the full article by Brian Merchant on Treehugger.
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Stockholm Congestion Tax
Posted in Models by Virginia on March 18th, 2009
The section below is republished with permission from the Going Solar Transport Newsletter #101, 10 March 2009, compiled by Stephen Ingrouille. Going Solar newsletter provides an excellent commentary on sustainable transport issues.
“The Stockholm congestion charge is a congestion pricing system implemented as a tax which is levied on most vehicles entering and exiting central Stockholm, Sweden. The congestion tax was implemented on a permanent basis on August 1, 2007, after seven month trial period between January 3, 2006 and July 31, 2006. The primary purpose of the congestion tax is to reduce traffic congestion and improve the environmental situation in central Stockholm. The funds collected will be used for new road constructions in and around Stockholm. A referendum was held in September 2006 a couple months after the end of the trial period. In the referendum the residents of Stockholm municipality voted yes and in 14 other municipalities voted no to implement it permanently. On October 1, 2006, the leaders of the winning parties in the 2006 general election, declared they would implement the Stockholm congestion tax permanently. The parliament approved this on June 20, 2007, and the congestion tax came into effect on August 1, 2007.â€
Ref: Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_congestion_tax
And Also … “London Mayor Boris Johnson has admitted being fined for failing to pay the city’s congestion charge. The mayor said he ‘totally forgot’ to pay the £8-a-day charge in the required 48 hours after he drove into central London last month [triggering a £60 fine].â€
Ref: BBC News, 8/1/09