WATCH: Frum Shoppers React To The NYC Bag Tax

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Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn) is urging New Yorkers to rally fellow elected officials behind an effort to terminate a five-cent grocery bag fee that passed in the City Council on Thursday, 28-20. The legislation, which will take effect on Oct. 1, would require certain retailers to charge a fee for each carryout bag, paper or plastic.

WATCH FRUM SHOPPERS REACT TO THE TAX:

“This motion to charge consumers a nickel for their grocery bags is an unfair tax on hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers,” Assemblyman Hikind said. “Not only will this fee further complicate our lives even more, it will also tremendously burden the store owners.”

Supporters of the bill insisted the five-cent fee would encourage shoppers to use reusable bags, thus reducing the number of plastic bags New Yorkers throw away annually and argued that the five-cent charge wouldn’t be considered a tax since it would go directly to the store owner.

“If it looks like a tax, smells like a tax and acts as a tax, then it’s a tax,” Hikind argued. “This is just one more thing New Yorkers have to worry about. Grocery shopping, especially in New York City, can be hectic, and this will add to the chaos. As customers, we will now have to worry about having our reusable bags handy every time we go to the supermarket. It’s absolutely ridiculous.”

Sen. Simcha Felder (D- Brooklyn) and Assemblyman Michael Cusick (D-State Island) recently proposed legislation that would prevent New York City from imposing this fee. “I strongly urge my fellow New Yorkers to reach out to their elected officials and voice their concerns regarding the bag tax proposal,” Hikind said.

Mayor Bill de Blasio will be holding a public hearing on Tuesday, May 10 at 12 p.m. to offer those who oppose the legislation an opportunity to voice their concerns. “Let’s stand up together against this tax on the consumer and additional burden on supermarket owners,” he said.

Video courtesy of VIN

{Matzav.com}


7 COMMENTS

  1. Than come up with the next thing of taxing boxes.

    We should be complaining about stores charging For using credit cards under certain amount. And no reason for stores to have $10 or $15 non sale items to get sale items

  2. The problem is, that this 5 cent amount will prove to be ineffective- because everyone will just pay it- afterall a shopping order using 20 bags only cost an extra dollar. They will raise the price and raise it some more. It is just a method to add another tax which is starting out so small that no one cares. Remember the toll on the bridges and tunnels?? They started out cheap and temporary. Look at what happened to that.

  3. My kids get car sick very often. I keep plastic grocery bags (without holes) in my car so that when they need to throw up, they can do so in the bag and then we dump the contents in the nearest public toilet and throw away the bag. I will not pay 5 cents per bag but will also not allow my kids to throw up in my $1 reusable bags. So my children will now be forced to throw up on the side of the road wherever we pull over- so sorry NYC for the mess you will need to deal with!

  4. Brad Lander represents a good part of Boro Park and Kessington; this tax was his idea. Therefore, it is incumbent that since Lander instigated and voted for this tax, that he gets voted out of office – he is up for re-election in a little more than a year. And perhaps he should be investigated to determined if he was paid off for pushing what amounts is a tax which will hurt large families, the poor and elderly indiscriminately. Did the retail lobbyists raised money for his election campaign? Are they donating money for his re-election fund? I was in Washington last week and left my hotel to go shopping – guess what, I had no bag with me and it cost me an extra 30 cents (doubled bags were needed). Imagine the typical family shopping for Shabbos – 50 bags a week – and with other shopping, it will take about $400 a year out of our income. Add this to the high cost of living in New York, who needs to have to pay this additional fee which is really a tax?

    For the record, after unpacking, most people do find other uses for our plastic store shopping bags, including using them to tie up our garbage, clean up after the dog, packing clothing, carrying items like books when it rains, etc.
    Those cheap reusable cloth bags are not strong enough to carry a half of gallon of milk which “perspires” and leaks through the bag which weakens the bag and get dirty quickly bringing home the filth, bugs and dirt of the city and subways – yes, they are washable but who wants to wash this grimy bag with our underwear, towels and sheets?
    The loose bags that are flying around the streets are rarely store bags, but rather from people who take out food and eat in public – on benches at bus stops, on the subways and in their cars – look around and these bags have no names and are either white or black. But, Lander’s bill exempted those who take out food.

    For those who live in Midwood, Flatbush and Marine Park and are represented by Council-idiot Jumaane Williams, we should vote Williams out of office with Lander and while going so, vote against DeBlasio, if he is not smart enough to realize the ramifications and hardship of the majority of New Yorkers who daily will be subjected with what amounts to another nuisance tax/fee. Let’s hope Mayor DeBlasio has the guts and do the right thing by vetoing this bill.

  5. If this tax is stopped by Albany, I propose that some in our community have our own free give away plastic bags handed out to shoppers on their way into stores like Glatt Mart, Mountain Fruit, Gourme Glatt, Paperific, Goldbergs, Landau, etc., so we don’t have to pay this tax. On the bags there should be, depending on where the store is a photo of the Council parasites,who never held down a job in private industry, on one side with a red diagonal line across his face – I mean Bran Lander and fellow parasite Jumaane Williams and on the other side soon-to-be-in jail DeBlasio with the following words: You voted for the tax on bags and in return we will vote you out of office in 2017.

    Since these plastic bags cost less than a cent, all that is needed for a million of these bags is about $10,000.

    Interestingly, John Catsimatidis, who is one of the biggest financial support of DeBlasio, owns the most supermarkets – all under different names – in New York City. Since it are the stores who are going to keep this tax money, I wonder what role Catsimatidis played in pushing this new tax. An investigation by the Justice Department and Albany needs to commence. Someone other than Lander had a motive for this tax but a good question is: Did or will Catsimatidis finance Lander’s re-election campaign?

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