For the second straight year, Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., on Friday celebrated Earth Day by introducing a bill to impose a federal tax on plastic bags.
The Trash Reduction Act would place a 5-cent tax on single use carryout bags at grocery stores, and would also provide tax credits to businesses that use a recyclable bag program. Four of every five cents would go towards the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund.
Congress defeated similar legislation Moran introduced last year, but the congressman brought it back at the urging of the Arlington County Board. The board unsuccessfully lobbied the General Assembly for the power to impose a local bag tax, but lawmakers refused.
Proponents of the bag tax point to the program’s success in the District, where use of plastic bags has dropped and revenue from the tax goes towards Potomac River clean up efforts.
“This is an easy way we can all chip in to reduce pollution and promote conservation,” Moran said in a statement. “It’s working locally, the time has come to take the policy nationally.”
