Our elected City Council tried to do (its) job minimizing waste by implementing a retail bag tax. A group of citizens supposedly concerned about the cost to the consumer, including the Washington Food Industry and industries producing disposable bags, are screaming "taxes!" in the media, creating fear and distrust to build support for a referendum.

If you choose not to bring bags or forget once in a while and the $.20 per bag tax really threatens your budget, then you should be in line at the Food Bank and not at a grocery store. To help those who can't afford the tax, food retailers should encourage shoppers to "buy" a donation to the Food Bank at the check out stand.

At least one food retail chain already promotes this kind of social responsibility. If you need the plastic or paper bags for other purposes, then pay the tax, it's still cheaper than buying and paying sales tax on a box of bags.

With no deterrent, baggers in the stores will continue to double and triple bag items or put only a few items in each bag, and many customers will let them do it. The food retailers have not had great success educating the public or even their own employees, or these bags would not be filling the landfills.

Positive reinforcement (a discount for bringing your bag) has been tried and still most shoppers choose the option most convenient to themselves. Let the bag tax go into effect and then let's see if it helps minimize garbage and recycling volumes.

Don't make a mountain out of this molehill by supporting a wasteful, expensive and unnecessary referendum. We elected the council, let them do their job.

Kathy Dunn

Admiral