I'm already irritated by this tax. It's everything I hate about the worst aspects of Guardian Ecosocialism. If it was simply a case of taxing the pollution and landfill, I might have less of a problem. Work out the cost, stick it on the bag production companies and off you go. But it's not that. It's that you, the consumer have to pay the 5p. It's not based around a view of people of adults, where you pay for your decisions, but a nanny state view of people as children who need to make the right choices, and be guilted and punished into doing so. It's why you pay the money, and why that money in a punative sum over the actual damage caused.
Plus that's far more complicated than just collecting it when it's produced.
On top of that, I already reuse my bags. I take a couple of carrier bags to use when taking the dog out for a walk. They do the job as well as the proper "doggy poop bags". So I'm already sorting out the problem by reusing rather than buying a load of other bags.
I could go along with it and buy the pet bags. But I'm not going to. I'm going to keep getting the bags and keep handing over the money. I know it means government get the money to spend on whatever pet bullshit they want to, but the government is more interested in the public acquiescing to their bullying than handing over the money. And when this works, they'll push a bit harder next time.
Debate Magazine
