Not-So-Green Seattle Voters Reject Grocery Bag Tax

By Jane Yager,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 19, 2009 5:10 AM CDT
Not-So-Green Seattle Voters Reject Grocery Bag Tax
This Aug. 3, 2009 photo shows Donnie McGowan grabbing his plastic sacks of groceries at the M Street Grocery in Seattle.    (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

The $1.4 million the plastics industry spent to defeat a grocery bag tax initiative paid off yesterday when Seattle voters defied their green reputation to reject the tax, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports. The measure would have charged shoppers 20 cents per plastic or paper bag as an incentive to reduce disposable bag use; 58% of Seattle voters said no. 

Proponents of the ban, which had been passed by the city council but blocked by a petition to put it before voters, spent just $80,000 to support it.
(More lobbying stories.)

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