New York City’s five cent plastic bag tax was set to take effect on February 15, 2017 — but consumer advocates and business groups, including NFIB NY, opposed the tax and were successful in getting it delayed.
NFIB NY was a voice in the opposition to the tax as articulated in the New York Post op-ed by State Director Mike Durant. Durant emphasized that lawmakers should lower the cost of doing business not raise them.The bag tax would have imposed another government mandate and new administrative burdens on small businesses responsible for collecting the tax. Durant also argued in favor of legislation that would prevent localities from usurping state policy. Local regulations that vary from one jurisdiction to the next can create a compliance nightmare for business owners required to deal with a patchwork of different laws.
The tax on bags also would have threatened jobs in the state’s $2 billion plastic manufacturing industry and also put at risk recycling jobs in areas of the state that are in economic distress.
What’s next? In vetoing the bill that would have imposed the fee, the Governor suggested that he will convene a task force to create a uniform state plan.
READ Mike Durant’s op-ed entitled “Why Small Businesses Also Hate the Bag Tax.”