SB 536: Plastic bag ban and paper bag tax cartoon
By Taxpayer Association of Oregon [1]
At yesterday’s SB 536 plastic bag ban and paper bag tax hearing, State Senator Mark Hass refused to allow people testifying to mention the word tax. Senate Bill 536 forces a grocer to charge 5 cents per paper bag. Senator Hass said that he checked with government Legislative Council and discovered that they do consider the bill a tax therefore it magically is now not a tax even though government is forcing people to give up money. This tax censoring is a dangerous step with politicians who wish to pass taxes under a different name. The cartoon below shows the silliness behind not calling the paper bag tax an actual tax.
[2]
It was not clear at the hearing what the plastic bag ban and bag tax supporters are defining the tax as and what word the public should use .
Here is the Webster dictionary definition of a tax
“A charge usually of money imposed by authority on persons or property for public purposes”
How could the plastic bag ban and bag tax not be considered a tax.