Shopping Bag Tax for San Francisco?

Has San Fran been reading recent posts ( [1] and [2] ) on Treehugger? Looks like they want to jump aboard the shopping bag reduction bandwagon. And good on them, we say. Eagle-eyed TH reader Matthew spied this story, just yesterday, on CNN. According to the report, San Francisco is thinking about imposing a 17 cent surcharge on plastic and paper grocery bags. They would be the first US city to do so, if the proposal gets the go-ahead. At first it would levied onto stores with greater than $2 mill USD in yearly sales. One study has shown that stores are handing San Franciscans around 50 million bags year. Many of which we know end up in intestines of wildlife and marine animals. Apparently some folk have cried “unfair” and “regressive tax”. What’s the chance, that in their next life, those same people might get to come back as a turtle! Either way, we reckon Jim Rhoads, of the Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Council, qualifies for Quote Of The Day: "As consumers, we need to think outside the bag," Thanks for the heads up, Matthew, (who further reports that the Florence markets in Italy are already charging €0.10-0.20 per grocery bag.) ::CNN online [by WM]