Baltimore City Green Party Supports Proposed Bottle Tax

The Baltimore City Green Party supports Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's proposed 4-cent-per-bottle tax increase, and urges City Council members to support this and other ecologically-sound revenue generators for the city of Baltimore.

"The city ought to be cutting taxes on things that are valuable to city residents, like home ownership, re-structuring city taxes to provide incentives for other valuable things like home-based renewable wind and solar power and public transportation," said party chair Brian Bittner, of Westport, "and raising taxes on things that are valuable to beverage corporations and other corporate interests, including oil and energy companies."

The Baltimore City Green Party also urges the Baltimore City Council to seriously consider a plastic bag ban, or pass a plastic bag 'tax' similar to Washington DC's 5-cent-per-bag fee.

According to research published by the Washington Post, in the first month after the District of Columbia imposed a 5 cent fee on plastic shopping bags, the city increased its bag fee revenue by $150,000, even though plastic bag usage went down over 75%.

"We can do more with less," said Bittner. "More revenue to fund city programs with less plastic waste from bottles and shopping bags."

The Baltimore City Green Party recently endorsed the 'Think Outside the Bottle' campaign, which urges Governor O'Malley and other state officials to shift investment from purchasing bottled water for state employees to making Maryland's public water infrastructure more safe and reliable.

The Baltimore City Green Party can be reached at 443-449-4159 or baltimoregreens@gmail.com.

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