THE END OF DE BLASIO’S BAG TAX

NY State Assembly Passes Bag Tax Moratorium by Overwhelming Majority

Senator Lanza, Senator Felder, Assemblyman Cusick, Senator Golden, and Assemblyman Michael Simanowitz hold the legislation.

NY City residents are breathing a sigh of relief. Thanks to the tireless efforts of Simcha Felder in the Senate and Michael Cusick in the Assembly, residents can finally look forward to putting Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Bag Tax to rest. An agreement between the State Senate and Assembly, sponsored by Senate Cities Committee Chairman Felder, stopped the implementation of the City’s most recent regressive tax by establishing a moratorium—a freeze until a new City Council begins their term in 2018.

This was the second time state legislative pressure and the public outcry helped defeat the Bag Tax’s implementation. Senator Felder was joined by a number of his colleagues in a long fight against the Mayor’s Bag Tax that stretches back to last year’s legislative session. When the City first enacted its legislation to create the tax, it was slated to go into effect in October. But a hearing held by Felder and other legislators, followed by approval of a bill in the Senate prohibiting such taxes and a resulting public outcry, led the City to delay implementation until February 15, 2017.

With the passage of this new moratorium, the City’s Bag Tax is defeated once and for all, removing the unnecessary burden on low- and middle-income New York City residents. The Bag Tax could only be reauthorized by a new City Council with members who begin their terms on or after Jan. 1, 2018.

“Government’s job is to protect people, not make their lives harder,” said Senator Felder. “Our efforts should be geared towards making it easier for New Yorkers to keep more of their hard-earned money, not nickel and diming them every time they turn around. So many of my neighbors and constituents are breathing a sigh of relief now that this Bag Tax is over. My colleagues and I will continue to be diligent and not allow New Yorkers to be over-fined, over-ticketed, and over-taxed.”

“I listened to the cries of the senior citizens, the needy and the poor in our district,” said an impassioned Senator Ruben Diaz Sr. “I heard from seniors who receive $500 per month and from that they have to pay rent and buy their food and medicine. They don’t have 5 cents to waste. The City could have done other things.”

Assemblyman Michael Simanowitz said, “The proposed plastic bag fee was nothing more than a regressive tax that would hurt millions of New Yorkers. In a city with an already high cost of living, it is outrageous to make it more expensive for people to feed their families.”

Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz explained that New York State has already proven that recycling plastic bags is possible. “It is up to the City to figure out how to remove and recycle bags before they reach landfills,” he said. “I’m hopeful that the moratorium I co-sponsored will allow more time to work out a solution to the plastic bag dilemma that’s environmentally sound but does not place a financial burden on already overtaxed New Yorkers. Nickel-and-diming our residents is not the answer.”

S.4158/A.4883 (The Bag Fee Moratorium) passed by an overwhelming majority of 43 to 16 in the Senate and 122 to 15 in the Assembly.