SEATTLE—
August 18th, Seattle voters will decide on Referendum No.1 a proposed 20-cent charge that supermarkets, drugstores and convenience stores will levy on disposable plastic and paper bags.Jake Harris with the Seattle Green Bag Campaign said "we really have to look at ways to cut down on our one-time use of plastic." Harris has been pushing for the tax and believes it's good for the environment.
A well-funded group known as the "Coalition to Stop the Seattle Bag Tax" has been fighting the issue. Representative Adam Parmer said "if you go off the numbers from the city, it's going to cost Seattle residents 15 million dollars a year for a .0014 percent less landfill waste."
The issue has sparked a hot debate about whether Referendum 1 is a tax or a fee. Tax Litigation Attorney, John Ridge, believes it is a fee but Ridge points out that many people see all government assessments as taxes. "The fee distinctions, in this case, are only important to lawyers and politicians, to the public it doesn't matter" Ridge added.
Many Seattle residents say they're torn on the issue. Steven McCausey tries to help the environment and uses cloth bags, when he remembers, but believes the fee is too steep. McCausey said "bring the price down, for low income people like myself, it's a hardship." Ann Schaefer plans to support Referendum 1 "this dollar's going to buy less plastics being in the world and eventually a better world, in some little way."
When it comes to this issue, both sides point to some very powerful statistics. Referendum 1 supporters say Seattlites use 360 million bags every year. Opponents say more than 90 percent of those are already being recycled.
Referendum 1 opponent Adam Parmer said many in their group try to help the environment but "they don't think a punitive tax is the way to improve or help our environment." Parmer also says the bags are not linked to foreign oil like many believe. "The bags are made with natural gas" Parmer says.
Some stores already run recycling programs. Seattle's Metropolitan Market has been offering customers a 5-cent rebate per bag for the last two years. Customers have the choice to donate that nickel to charity or keep it. Tuesday, the market gave the Puget Sound Keeper Alliance a 5,000 dollar check. The Puget Sound Keeper Alliance is a non-profit group that monitors and tries to protect Puget Sound.
Metropolitan Market's Vice President of Marketing called the program a win-win "it helps us reduce our costs and the customers save money or help a local group." The Market says they're not picking sides on Referendum 1 and will support whatever the voters decide.
The bag fight is turning out to be an expensive one... the American Chemistry Council has poured more than a million dollars into the campaign to defeat Referendum 1. The Seattle Green Bag Campaign has raised less than a hundred thousand dollars, but has strong grassroots support.
