Gov. J.B. Pritzker wants a 5-cent bag tax across Illinois. Shoppers aren’t buying it – By Robert Channick (Chicago Tribune) / Feb 22 2019
For more than two years, Chicagoans have struggled with a nagging decision at grocery stores and other retailers – pay 7 cents for a disposable bag, or somehow do without.
Now, if Gov. J.B. Pritzker has his way, shoppers across the state will face a similar choice.
In his inaugural budget, Pritzker has proposed a 5-cent tax on all plastic bags used at checkout in Illinois. The goal is to reduce waste and raise revenue.
But while environmentalists cheer the initiative, early feedback suggests shoppers aren’t buying it.
“Pretty soon they’re going to be taxing the air that you breathe,” said Jim Pruim, 57, a truck driver from southwest suburban Willowbrook.
Pruim left Pete’s Fresh Market in Willowbrook Friday morning with three bags of groceries, including one that was doubled bagged because of the weight. That would set him back 20 cents under the proposal. While he said the bag tax alone “wouldn’t make or break” him, the cumulative effect of government “taxing everything” adds up.
In Chicago, the frustration may add up even more, to 12 cents a bag if the state tax is heaped on top of the city tax. Chicago may be exempted but city and state officials said that issue had yet to be worked out.
Regardless, “it’s not going to be well received by the customers,” said Vanessa Dremonas, executive officer for family owned Pete’s Fresh Market, which has 13 grocery stores in the city and suburbs. “They have a hard enough time accepting the 7-cent tax.”
The state’s budget proposal, announced Wednesday, projects the bag tax will generate between $19 million and $23 million in new annual revenue, depending on whether or not Chicago is exempted.
Chicago’s 7-cent bag tax went into effect on Feb. 1, 2017. The city keeps 5 cents per bag, while the retailer keeps 2 cents. The charge shows up on store receipts, right next to other municipal sales tax items such as the Chicago bottled water tax. The tax does not apply to restaurants and families using food stamps.
The city collected $5.6 million in 2017 and $5.9 million last year from the bag tax, Department of Finance spokeswoman Kristen Cabanban said.
That’s lower than the $9.2 million the city projected before the bag tax was implemented, a discrepancy that Cabanban attributed to “greater than anticipated” changes in consumer behavior.
A 2017 study showed a 42 percent reduction in bag use after the tax was implemented. But reports from the checkout lines at Pete’s Fresh Market suggest some shoppers reduced their bag usage in unpredictable ways, juggling purchases in their arms or pushing carts full of unbagged products out the door.
“There has been resistance — many people just don’t want to pay,” Dremonas said.
That’s exactly what some environmentalists want.
Jordan Parker, executive director of Bring Your Bag Chicago, a nonprofit environmental organization, not only cheers the proposed state bag tax, but she also believes that adding it to the city tax would encourage Chicagoans to bypass disposable bags.
“I would love to see the tax increase to 12 cents,” Parker said. “We’ve had a couple of years to acclimate to this tax and I think most of Chicago is used to it. I think increasing it to 12 cents would just be another little nudge in the right direction.”
Still, Dremonas said there is a cost beyond the money. Irate customers have caused backups at checkout lines over the tax, she said. Customers eschewing bags routinely leave the store with items in their arms, which has led to some theft prevention issues.
Even customers who bring reusable bags have created problems, insisting that baggers stuff too many items in their bag when they buy more than planned, Dremonas said.
At the very least, Dremonas would like to see a state bag tax exemption in Chicago, where Pete’s has seven stores.
Chicago is not the only Illinois city with a bag tax. Oak Park has had a 10-cent-per-bag fee in place since January 2018.
Cashier Carmen Espinoza bags a customers produce at Pete’s Fresh Market store in Willowbrook on Feb. 22, 2019. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)
Nationwide, the idea has been adopted by a handful of cities, but is only beginning to be considered by states. In 2014, California became the first such state, imposing a 10-cent tax on paper bags and reusable plastic bags, while banning single-use plastic bags at large retail stores. Connecticut’s new governor recently proposed a new 5-cent tax on disposable bags. Last year, Colorado’s governor pushed for a 25-cent tax on bags, a measure that died in the state legislature.
On the flip side, 11 states have a preemption law on the books, essentially banning municipalities from enacting a bag tax, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Four of those states – Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa and Missouri – border Illinois.
Rob Karr, president and CEO of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, said one concern about the proposed state bag tax is whether or not retailers will get a share of the revenue, as they do in Chicago. He also expressed concerns about the mounting cost to Chicago consumers if the city is not exempted from the state bag tax.
“Certainly shoppers didn’t like the 7-cent tax the city did, they’re not going to like nearly doubling it,” Karr said.
Customers at a Mariano’s grocery store in Chicago’s Streeterville neighborhood had a decidedly dim view of the proposed tax.
“It’s ridiculous,” said Joe Daniels, who works downtown and lives in Country Club Hills, where there is no bag tax. He had heard about the governor’s proposal and viewed it as an example of government overreach. “Pretty soon, they’ll be taxing how many miles you drive,” he said.
As it stands, he avoids Chicago’s 7-cent bag tax. “Anything I can buy I put it in my pocket,” he said as he grazed the produce section.
Meanwhile, the city of Chicago offered some practical advice to shoppers concerned about the escalating cost of disposable bags.
“The Checkout Bag Tax is an optional tax,” Cabanban said. “Consumers can avoid it completely by bringing their own bags when they shop.”
For Pruim, facing a potential 5-cent state bag tax in Willowbrook will not change his shopping habits. He has no plans to tote a reusable bag to the store or carry his groceries out in a bear hug. Instead, he said, he may just bag the state entirely.
“Maybe it’s time to start thinking about moving out of the state of Illinois,” Pruim said.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-illinois-bag-tax-20190221-story.html
