Bloomberg’s Plastic Bag Tax: More Government Over-Reaching

Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York City, has proposed the addition of a tax of 5 cents for every plastic bag used at the grocery store.

To be certain:  I am not familiar with the authority granted to the mayor and city council in New York City.  Who knows:  maybe they have the legal authority to do such a stupid thing.  But it begs the question:  Is there anything which is outside of the reach of government taxation?

And please don’t tell me that this is a good idea because of the environmental impact.  While it’s possible that such a move would reduce the use of plastic bags in landfills, that’s no justification for such a blatant intrusion into the lives of private citizens.

As I said, it’s questionable whether the city of New York even has legal authority to institute a “bag tax”.  But what’s certain is that the city of New York has the right to offer tax credits for people who use fewer plastic bags (which will also reduce the amount of plastic bags in landfills), and they also have the right to trim down the size of the government in order to address their budget shortfalls.

Michael Bloomberg has now been mayor for two terms, and he has recently taken action to see to it that he maintains control for a third term - even though that took special legislative action and was illegal prior to his term as mayor.  Given that he has had this much time on the job, one thing is certain:

Budget problems are now the fault of Mr. Bloomberg.  He’s had two terms, and because he has failed to properly manage the budget of the city of New York, he is now attempting to push off his failure onto the citizens of NYC by charging higher taxes on the basis of usage of plastic bags.

Mr. Bloomberg is a perfect example of liberal irresponsibility in action.