Article: San Francisco proposes bag tax.(News)

Byline: Steve Toloken

San Francisco is considering a 17 cent tax on each plastic and paper bag used at grocery stores, as a way to reduce litter and cut costs for the city.

The city would be the first in the United States to tax bags, but the action would mirror bag bans and taxes that have blown across the globe from Australia to Ireland. Environmentalists and city officials say the 50 million bags used in San Francisco each year contribute to ocean and beach pollution and cost the city millions of dollars a year to clean up.

The proposal is motivated by environmental concerns, and its goal is to get people to change their shopping habits and ...

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