More insanity courtesy of the Columbia Heights listserv

H/T to DCist for posting about this lively exchange on the Columbia Heights listserv (my Yahoo Groups subscription has been acting funky). One of your neighbors and mine, is so much against the new no plastic bag law that he will get in his Prius and drive in Maryland because it is better for the environment and he will not be taxed there. Really, here is what he had to say:

I discovered something interesting this weekend while shopping at Target:  I now will spend less resulting in less taxes collected by the city for my purchases.  Why?  I refuse to pay the 5 cent per bag tax.  So I will only buy what I can carry in my own two hands.  I usually spend hundreds of dollars a weekend at Target.  Now I spend very little.

Fewer purchases = less sales tax generated = more money left in my bank account.  And I am not alone.

I also now find it cheaper to drive my hybrid to the Safeway in Maryland to purchase groceries.  I get 50+ MPG in my hybrid so an extra mile is nothing compared to 5 cents per bag.  So Maryland will now get my sales tax money.

I also find myself ordering more things online now so that they can be delivered bag tax and sales tax free.  The only problem is now I need to throw away all those boxes and packaging material.  There is no tax on sticking it in my trash can.

So there you go City Council.  Someone with a 6 figure salary has now made a lifestyle change because of the bag tax.  Taxation without representation now done locally.

Here's to all the Amazon boxes now clogging the rivers. 

As Spud Lite noted: "Umm, since when do we get to vote on every tax? Oh ... since never." Oh, and it gets better from there.