DC Bag Tax Nets $150,000 For Anacostia River Clean Up
‘Reusable Giant Bags’
courtesy of ‘Mr. T in DC’
The District’s 5-cent bag tax, which started in January 2010, netted approximately $150,000 during its first month of enactment. According to the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue, only 3 million bags were issued in the month of January compared to 2009’s 22.5 million bags per month average, and it appears that the new law DC shoppers has been successful in altering shopping bag habits faster than was expected.
Prior to enactment, the new tax was estimated to generate $10 million in revenue over the next four years and would fund the Anacostia River Cleanup Fund. Given January’s results it appears that consumer behavior has changed so rapidly that this revenue may fall short of its original projection.
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4 Responses to “DC Bag Tax Nets $150,000 For Anacostia River Clean Up”
March 30th, 2010 at 2:13 pm
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by EmKuhn: DC Bag Tax Nets $150,000 For Anacostia River Clean Up Since Jan 1: http://bit.ly/a23d8Y...
March 30th, 2010 at 4:00 pm
[...] Rebecca at We Love DC notes, it turns out that the price elasticity of demand for plastic bags is incredibly high: The District’s 5-cent bag tax, which started in January 2010, netted approximately $150,000 [...]
March 30th, 2010 at 4:03 pm
[...] change. So we say the demand is inelastic. It turns out that the demand for plastic grocery bags is very elastic. The District’s 5-cent bag tax, which started in January 2010, netted approximately $150,000 [...]
April 4th, 2010 at 9:38 am
[...] to raise a little money and cut down on landfill waste. Kevin Drum notes the experience of the Washington, DC nickel-per-bag tax, for which revenues, which are dedicated to the cleanup of the Anacostia River, have been much less [...]