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Income, sales and property are proud to welcome a new little guy to the tax family: the plastic bag! Seattle, Los Angeles, Dallas and New York City lead the list of American cities considering the plastic-bag tax, which has already been implemented all over Europe.

The concept: Charge a fee at the register for every plastic bag a shopper uses, promoting reusable shopping bags and more environmentally sound bagging alternatives.

Seattle was all set to be the first American city to implement the tax (a 20-cent-per-bag charge intended to start January 1), but grocery stores and the plastic-bag industry collected enough signatures to force the matter to wait for a citywide vote next August. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently called for a six-cent-per-bag fee, with one cent of it going to grocers for their compliance.

Who Will Speak for the Plastic Bags?
While these plans may sound like simple eco-conscious brilliance, there is another side to the matter. At a Palo Alto, Ca., city council meeting, groups including the American Chemistry Council and SaveThePlasticBag.com expressed concern that the tax would cut into grocers' revenues, force a shift to equally harmful paper bags and undercut recent advances in plastic-bag recycling. (There's also concern from the general public that the tax takes environmental awareness a little too far, but we're not convinced that's really possible.)

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While no U.S. city has yet to implement the tax, some stores have. The Ikea chain started charging five cents per plastic bag in 2007, and saw a huge decrease in usage. Other grocery stores, including Whole Foods Market, offer a discount of a few cents to customers who shop with reusable bags.

Tell us: What's your opinion on the plastic-bag tax? Would you be happy or upset to see one implemented?

Also on Lemondrop: More eco-friendly ingenuity! Check out these dresses made of everything but boring old fabric.

Really Stupid Hats

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    Hatbox hat.

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    Lego my hat.

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    Modelcorn horn.

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    Sad clown model.

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    Channeling Space Invaders.

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