Re:New Jersey bans paper bags
by Wowfunhappy on Tuesday May 17, 2022 @05:44PM
(#31416645)
Firstly, the goal is to ensure the people who forget a bag won't buy a reusable bag that they won't actually reuse.
Secondly... I consider myself on the liberal side of the political spectrum, I think income inequality is a huge problem and we need stronger social safety net. However, I really reject the idea that if some comfort wouldn't be available to poor people, it shouldn't be available to anyone. We want to achieve equality by raising the standard of living at the low end, not lowering the high end. The latter just makes everyone worse off.
And then it would make it an actual problem for the poor, more so than OP hypothesis that the law "affects poor people the most as they are the most likely to reuse single use bags as garbage liners".
Because a surcharge on single use bags is essentially turning them into a luxury, i.e. if you are poor, you may not go grocery shopping without planning it first.
I don't see how that's fair.