To the Editor:The Newtown Bee which is sold? After all, The Bee (and The News-Times,etc.) are made of paper, and their content is available online. Should the town get involved in discouraging the purchase of newspapers? I don't think so. But would that tax really be that much different?

I would like to point out something that seems to be absent from the coverage of the proposed plastic shopping bag ban - namely that the proposal seems to be badly misnamed. I suggest that in the future, we all refer to it as the Plastic Shopping Bag Ban & New Tax on Paper Shopping Bag proposal. A little wordy? Yes, but there is a wolf lurking within that sheep's clothing.

I am not going to defend the use of plastic bags. They are a blight on the earth. Yes, please ban them. There does not appear to be a plastic bag lobby here. One would assume that it will be a fairly popular decision. It would seem it can be affected rather simply. Ban the plastic bags (as suggested) and shoppers will either bring their recyclable shopping bags, or the stores will pack their groceries in paper bags. Yes, the paper bags cost the store owners more than the plastic ones. But how the owners want to deal with that expense is a business decision to be made by the individual store owners. They can charge a fee for the bags, or they can absorb the cost. It is a free market. I don't think that it is the business of the town to dictate how the store owner chooses to go.

The suggestion that the store owners should fix a ten cent charge on paper bags (and remit seven cents to the town) has nothing to do with plastic bags. It is plainly a tax on paper bags. The reason given for this tax is that paper bags are not as desirable from an environmental standpoint as recyclable bags. I'll accept that contention, but why are we heading down a path where minor variations in the environmental effect of various parts of life give rise to new town taxes? Here's another way to look at it: take a gander inside the average (compliant) shopper's recyclable shopping bag. Take note of all the plastic packaging in there. Why is the plastic shopping bag ban obsessing about the paper bags all that plastic is sitting in? For that matter, a lot of paper shopping bags are repurposed by shoppers in the first place.

The argument is that the recyclable bags are better for the environment than the available recyclable bags. Therefore, the town government is considering using its power to tax the citizenry in order to discourage the use of paper bags. My question is, how does the essence of that decision differ from a scenario where the town decides to slap a ten cent tax on every paper copy of

It may seem trivial, but the proposed ban seems to be a good example of potential government overreach. People with good intentions get going on a common sense idea. Sometimes what comes out the other end is another thing.

Kevin Byrne

24 Juniper Road, Newtown         May 7, 2018