Legislators in Maryland are considering a bag tax modeled after D.C.'s 5-cent bag fee, but opposition to the idea is coming from some very different quarters.
Politics makes for strange bedfellows, but the same might just as well go for taxes. Maryland's Department of the Environment is opposing the bag tax proposal.
"Well this bill is a difficult one for the Department of the Environment because we absolutely support the intent of the bill to recycle and reduce waste but we needed to oppose the bill due to the resource burden it places on the department," said department spokeswoman Dawn Stoltzfuz.
Stoltzfuz said the bill would require the department to spend money it doesn't have on outreach programs. Delegate Al Carr, who proposed the bag tax, said that's just a timing issue.
"They're not the Department of Politics, they're the Department of Environment, so I think this is something that can be questioned and challenged and overcome," Carr said.
A house committee is expected to vote on the bill within the next two weeks.
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