Please stop calling this 20-cent charge for a plastic or paper bag a tax. It is not a tax. It is not mandatory, you can avoid it by bringing reusable bags. These are being given away by many progressive groups already, and will be available at Sustainable Ballard's Fall Festival customized by sewers set up in the Ballard library.

The oil saved by not turning it into plastic bags is significant, the fewer trees we cut down for brown bags the better. Europeans have been bringing their own bags for decades. You can call it coercion, or peer pressure if you wish, just don't call it a tax.

Andrea Faste

Ballard