Chicago shoppers could soon have a new incentive to use their own reusable bags: saving money.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel is proposing a 7-cent tax to be added for each plastic or paper bag given at stores to begin as early as next year, the Chicago Tribune reports.
The city-imposed fee is the latest effort of Emanuel’s to generate revenue to help close a massive budget gap, while also encouraging consumers to bring their own bags when they shop.
Five cents of each charged fee would go to the city, with the additional 2 cents given to local merchants to help defray the cost of paper and thick plastic bags. It’s expected to raise roughly $13 million a year, with the city receiving about $9.2 million, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Sources tell the Tribune that Emanuel will likely present the new tax to alderman as part of his planned 2017 budget proposal Tuesday.
