Ravenwood - 01/25/05 06:15 AM
Several people have emailed me the story about San Francisco implementing a 17-cents per grocery bag tax. I covered it two months ago, so I won't rehash it all now.
I am wondering, however, what will happen when the law of unintended consequences kicks in. My bet is that shoplifting will increase as they become indistinguishable between those people opting to carry their purchases out without a bag.
As people opt to carry their purchases without a bag, SF will introduce a "Packaging Tax" to counter the effect. Hard to carry milk without a carton...
Posted by: Steve Scudder at January 25, 2005 8:35 AMA lot of people already use those reusable fabric bags. But those require polluting laundry detergent to wash, and are too expensive for the poor so they'll have to be subsidized.
Posted by: Ravenwood at January 25, 2005 8:44 AMNot to mention shoplifting by people carrying those cloth bags.
Posted by: Heartless Libertarian at January 25, 2005 11:33 AMIs there any tax that SF won't implement?
Posted by: roger at January 25, 2005 11:47 AMSure, you'll never see a sodomy tax in SF. That's isn't about the homosexuals there -- the government simply wouldn't be able to operate if it was any more expensive for them to F- the people there.
Posted by: Phelps at January 25, 2005 12:50 PM(c) Ravenwood and Associates, 1990 - 2014
