Patch Coverage of Mayor's Bottle Tax Proposal
Midday with Dan Rodricks will discuss the issue this afternoon.
Midday with Dan Rodricks on WYPR this afternoon will discuss Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s proposal to increase the city’s bottle tax to 5 cents as part of a plan to leverage $300 million in bonds for school construction.
Here are some links to North Baltimore Patch’s coverage of the issue so far:
Mayor’s Plan Bottle Tax Plan Leaked to Media: http://patch.com/A-nB97
Mayor Outline Proposal for Increased School Construction: http://patch.com/A-nG3q
North Baltimore Council Members Take Stance on Bottle Tax:http://patch.com/A-nG62
Mayor Officially Announces Plans for Bottle Tax Hike: http://patch.com/A-rk1y
Mayor Tours Barclay, Touts School Construction Initiative: http://patch.com/A-rwYk
Gordon Steen
12:58 pm on Saturday, March 10, 2012
We get a tax while the rest of the civilized world has a 5 cent deposit. Which one will clean up our streets and the bay faster?
Benn Ray
12:37 pm on Sunday, March 11, 2012
Hurray! More regressive tax policy from city leaders. Thanks everyone who voted for SRB!
ralahinn1
2:40 pm on Sunday, March 11, 2012
I already switched over to mainly powdered drink mixes, and I do more of my shopping in the county now.
Benn Ray
12:15 pm on Monday, March 12, 2012
You do more of your shopping in the county because of a tax proposal that hasn't even been voted on yet?
Dave
3:03 pm on Monday, March 12, 2012
In defense of ralahinn1, the city already instituted a bottle tax. This is a proposal to increase said tax. However, I'd be willing to bet that ralahinn1 probably spends more in gas to "save" on not paying the bottle tax. That being said, I'm with Gordon Steen. I know people in MA. and Maine who put out their bottle recycling and most of it is gone before the recycling guys even show up. Why is that? Because people who are homeless/down on their luck, etc. take the bottles and return them for the deposit. Imagine people pulling bottles out of the inner harbor to make a little coin. Seems like that makes a lot more sense than a bottle tax.
Benn Ray
5:57 pm on Monday, March 12, 2012
I was wondering if it was the current 2-cent per bottle tax or the prospect of an increase that had driven ralahinn1 to shop in the county (especially since they claim to have already switched over to powder mixes anyway). I'm really wondering how many bottles they are going through to make that math make sense.
But maybe you can answer this for me since I'm a little confused. If the purpose of a bottle tax is to provide revenue for the city, how does a bottle deposit generate that same revenue? I'm not sure how deposit programs work.
Dave
6:42 pm on Monday, March 12, 2012
Benn,
You're absolutely right. If it's revenue the city is looking for, then a bottle deposit won't do diddly. I guess I was thinking more about all the garbage that is all over the city and in our waterways (a lot of which is bottles). The deposit plan would incentivize cleaning things up. In terms of revenue, since we recently added a tax to bottles, why not try a different revenue source.