SENATE PASSES LEGISLATION TO STOP THE IMPLEMENTATION OF NEW YORK CITY’S BAG TAX

Senator Felder asks Mayor de Blasio if he knows the price of bread and eggs

Assembly Joins Senate in Agreement to Indefinitely Halt Bag Tax’s Feb. 15 Start Date

The New York State Senate today passed a bill to stop the implementation of New York City’s bag tax. The moratorium (S4158), an agreement between the Senate and Assembly and sponsored by Senate Cities Committee Chairman Simcha Felder (D, Brooklyn), is the latest step in the Senate’s bipartisan efforts to stop the City’s regressive tax on carry-out merchandise bags and enable consumers to keep more of their hard-earned money.

“Today, we took concrete action to stop Mayor de Blasio and the New York City Council's punitive Bag Tax,” said Senator Felder. “I want to thank my colleagues who worked so hard to protect our constituents from this tax, especially Assemblyman Michael Cusick who led the fight in the Assembly. We believe that New Yorkers are the greatest people in the world -- hard-working people who want to do the right thing given that opportunity. We will continue to be diligent and not allow New Yorkers to be over-fined, over-ticketed, and over-taxed.”

This is the second time state legislative pressure and a public outcry helped successfully defeat the bag tax’s implementation. When New York City first enacted legislation last year to create the five-cent tax, it was originally slated to go into effect in October. However, a state Senate hearing held by Senator 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 today’s moratorium, the City’s law implementing the bag tax is defeated, removing an 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.

Senator Marty Golden (R-C-I, Brooklyn) stated, “The New York State Senate acted quickly to put a stop to a tax on plastic bags that would be financially damaging to every hard-working New Yorker living in the City. During these financially challenging times, we need to find ways for New Yorkers to keep every penny to meet the growing cost of living here in the city. I hope that the New York City Council will find other ways to help the environment without imposing burdensome taxes.”

Senator Tony Avella (D, Queens) said, “This bag tax was hastily developed without thought of the impact on low- and middle-class families who are already strapped for cash in New York City. I believe that we must find alternatives to the growing impact of plastic bags on our environment, however this plan was not the way. This moratorium will give the necessary amount of time to develop an economically sound, environmentally friendly way to reduce the use of plastic bags.”

Senator Diane Savino (D, Staten Island/Brooklyn) said, “Since the passage of the bag tax by the City Council I have heard from my constituents that they are opposed to it. Many are senior citizens who just can’t afford anymore nickel and diming by the city. Last year the City Council delayed implementation to find solutions to the problems we discussed on the Senate floor, but they didn’t do anything. With the passage of today’s bill we can ensure that the City Council fully understands the impact on our communities.”

The bill will be sent to the Assembly, which is expected to act on the measure this week.

Using the Environment as a Weapon

by Senator Simcha Felder

Assembly Members Mike Simanowitz and Michael Cusick with Senator Felder

In his book Up From Liberalism, William F. Buckley illustrated how the leading liberals of his day, in their speeches and statements and the premises that underlined their words and actions, clearly suffered from obvious social and philosophical prejudices. And that was only the 1950s. Over the last half century, left-leaning progressive liberals have lived down to Mr. Buckley’s expectations.

Part of their game is name calling. Another part is painting their opponents (i.e., anyone who disagrees with them) with a broad brush, putting words in their mouths and, ultimately, using misdirection in an attempt to create a false image of what their opponents stand for.

My recent run-in with these charlatans resulted from my taking a stance on the Bag Tax. As many of you will no doubt recall, the City Council — under the guise of an environmental initiative — attempted to force a nickel tax on every carry-out bag in the city. Why not a dime? Or a quarter? Because they didn’t think they’d get away with it. Yet. So the nickel tax (for now) was acceptable to the mayor and enough members of the council. But it wasn’t acceptable to New Yorkers. And it certainly wasn’t acceptable to my constituents, who made their voices loud and clear. Many of my colleagues, who also represent residents throughout the five boroughs, heard the same objections and joined me in the fight.

Does this mean most members of the Senate and the Assembly want to hurt the environment? No one in their right mind really thinks that. We all care about the planet and want to be good stewards. We simply saw through the ruse that pretended that adding yet another regressive tax to New Yorkers would help the environment. We understood that the Bag Tax was no different than a BIG Soda ban in its pomposity and pretentiousness.

My efforts had several results. The first was an overwhelming victory in the Senate for our anti-Bag Tax legislation, and an anticipated victory in the Assembly that forced the City Council to postpone the tax, which was slated for October, so it could be revisited next year.

The second result was the “Oil Slick Award,” which an environmentalist group has now bestowed upon me with all the public fanfare that the not-for-profit organization could muster. Each year, the Oil Slick Award — an insult of the highest order when hurled by those on the far left — is reserved for the legislator this group hates most. I’m told no one else even came close.

So I am pleased to accept this award. And I do so on behalf of all New Yorkers who care about the environment as much as anyone else, but won’t be fooled by hidden agendas that are, let’s be honest, the farthest thing from Green.

This article appeared in Hamodia on August 31, 2016.

Don’t Let Anyone Sell You the Brooklyn Bridge

The City Council really doesn’t get it. There’s a reason their new bag tax is so unpopular. It’s not just the nickels, which will add up for many. It’s the chutzpah. Our form of government is intended to be of the people. No one understands that better than New Yorkers who elect officials to represent their values and needs. The last thing any of us want is a nannyocracy telling us what’s good for us, what to believe and how to behave.

On Friday, I chaired a Public Hearing on the bag tax, which allowed my colleagues and me to bring in expert witnesses from every vantage point — manufacturing, the environment, sanitation, the city’s impoverished. We listened as detailed testimony made it clear that New Yorkers are being bamboozled by the City’s bag tax. The Council member who championed the tax (which he insisted on calling a “fee”) was invited to address us and wasn’t ashamed to admit that the true intention of the tax is not to do something constructive — rather, it’s to irritate people into changing their behavior; to force people to support a cause that he and the liberal progressives who agree with him feel is important. “We know what’s best for you,” says the Council, “so we will punish you until you comply.”

But this isn’t an attack on Big Sodas, which many people don’t drink anyway. This attack is on something everyone uses regularly.

What I already understood, and what was made even further evident at the hearing Friday, was that these people, if they could, would force us to stop using plastic bags entirely. Not just carry-out bags but anything they don’t like: plastic cups, plastic spoons, even disposable diapers. Let everyone go back to using diaper services. But that’s not feasible (today), so they picked the one thing they thought could get away with.

If the environment is really the issue, I suggested, then enforce recycling laws, which are already on the books. Recycling of plastic bags is already common, as experts testified at our hearing. Steve Stein of Environmental Resources Planning noted that a bag tax would have little, if any, additional impact on the environment. As Abraham Lincoln might have said, charging some of the people for some of the bags some of the time only fools the fools.

Moreover, plastic bags are further recycled by the many uses they receive from average New Yorkers. I know I use mine. And when people are done with their bags, there are receptacles available for recycling.

So it’s clear: At the end of the day, recycling is not the issue. The arguments presented at our hearing from those pushing the tax quickly digressed into diatribes on climate change and wildlife concerns. “The trees in New York are filled with plastic bags,” they said. These were people with multiple agendas, but they weren’t speaking for common New Yorkers. Then I listened as testimony from those representing lower-income neighborhoods made it clear that they don’t want government intruding into their lives. There are people who are genuinely strapped. To these New Yorkers, a nickel is a nickel. They don’t want to waste money.

As for plastic bags hanging from trees, my colleague Assemblyman Dov Hikind noted that he’s up and down Ocean Parkway every day and doesn’t see them. So I went out and looked, too. If they were ever there, someone must have taken them down. Maybe the people seeing bags in trees are walking on their hands.

The people who pushed this bill want to pretend that this is a holy mission. It’s not. It’s just an aggressive, progressive liberal agenda. That’s why it’s so important to stop it.

Our City tries again and again to force people to do something that a small group demands is important. Their tactic: Drive people crazy until they give in. Today it’s a nickel a bag, tomorrow it’s something else. Yes, the ultimate goal is to irritate us.

Mission accomplished.

The public is encouraged to fight the tax by signing the petition at https://www.nysenate.gov/stopbagtax.

This op-ed originally appeared in Hamodia.