DC Issues New Regulations (Red Tape) on Its 5 Cent Tax on Plastic Bags

Washington Post:  “The D.C. Department of the Environment published new regulations . . . clarifying which retail stores have to charge the 5-cent tax on plastic bags and how the city will enforce the law.  . . . But the law has resulted in widespread confusion about which stores have to charge for bags.  The proposed regulations . . .state that the tax will apply to bakeries, delicatessens, grocery stores, convenience stores that sell food, restaurants, street vendors that sell food, liquor stores and ‘any business that sells food items.’  The tax will also apply to stores that sell both food and non-food items, such as many pharmacies, regardless of whether a customer buys food.”

See also the Tax Foundation report “D.C. Charge on Plastic Bags is a Tax, Not a Fee.”  Seattle, Washington, considered a bag tax, but it never became law.  See the Tax Foundation reports, “Proposed Seattle Bag Tax Criticized,” and “No Bag Tax in Seattle.”  For more on plastic bag taxes, see “Bootleggers, Baptists, and Ireland’s Bag Tax.”