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 Photo Bruce Barton/Town Crier
Rayna Barton drops off plastic bags for recycling at the Safeway on Miramonte Avenue in Mountain View. A Santa Clara County commission wants to impose a 25-cent tax on the bags. A group representing more than a dozen chambers of commerce in Santa Clara County, including the Los Altos chamber, opposes a proposed countywide tax on shopping bags, a measure the group claims could harm consumers and businesses.
The proposal, promoted by the Santa Clara County Recycling and Waste Reduction Commission, would levy a 25-cent tax on nearly every paper and plastic bag used in commerce conducted in Santa Clara County. The county has asked for input from the region’s cities and interested stakeholders.
“In this economy, now is not the time to seriously be considering more ways to take money out of the pockets of consumers and harm businesses that are struggling to survive,” said Coalition Chairman Steve Van Dorn, president and CEO of the Santa Clara Chamber of Commerce and Convention-Visitors Bureau.
Outlining the Coalition’s opposition, Van Dorn claimed the tax ignores the current state of the economy, is antibusiness and anticonsumer, creates more bureaucracy and does not help the environment.
“Santa Clara County’s business community is genuinely concerned about the environment,” Van Dorn said, adding that many area companies are engaged in green industries with green jobs. “Many companies have voluntarily taken steps to boost recycling and limit waste. While we applaud the commission’s general objectives, the call for municipalities throughout our region to impose a bag tax is misguided and ill timed.”
For more information on the effort to oppose the tax, visit www.stopthesantaclarabagtax.org.
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