A tip of the cap to my boss and the Institute’s founder, Christopher B. Summers, for passing this little gem on to me via email, along with the subject line “The new threat… plastic bags!” Some things you have to see to believe, and this happens to be one of them.

There is a bill that went before the Maryland Senate on the 19^th (introduced by Senator Joan Carter Conway) that would make it illegal to sell or distribute plastic bags in this state unless “specific language is printed” somewhere on the bags. Here’s the full synopsis of the bill:

Prohibiting a plastic carryout bag manufacturer from providing, selling, or offering for sale plastic carryout bags for use or distribution in the State unless specified language is printed or displayed on the bags and the manufacturer has registered with the Department of the Environment in a specified manner; requiring a plastic carryout bag manufacturer to register every 2 years by submitting to the Department a specified registration form, fee, and plan; terminating the Act after September 30, 2020; etc.

This is a classic example of how the government destroys wealth: by enacting pointless regulations on businesses like this one.

I can understand the rationale. The bill is filed under “Environment,” which means the motivation here is to reduce the number of plastic bags that end up as (improperly) discarded waste. I guess Senator Conway thinks this might be an easier way of going about it, since raising taxes on consumers is almost never popular.

Unfortunately, the cost of this regulation will only be passed on to consumers anyway. That’s simply what happens. If bag manufacturers have to spend more money complying with government regulations, they’ll respond by raising their prices (or by going bankrupt entirely, if the cost of compliance is high enough). The grocery stores that buy the bags will then raise their prices ever so slightly in response.

The result? Consumers (you and me) would end up paying for the bags just the same way as we would if the state of Maryland placed a tax on each and every bag we used.

Except for one thing. In this situation, the government isn’t earning any extra money. And neither is the grocery store (who raised their prices because the cost of their products rose). And neither is the bag manufacturer (who raised their prices because they had to spend more money satisfying silly regulations).

So what’s the bottom line? Maryland residents would get just a little bit poorer as a result of this legislation, but because the change would be so minute (and not connected to the cost of plastic bags in the mind of the consumer) everyone would continue to use the same amount of plastic bags.

Nobody wins in this game. Not the environment, not businesses, and not the consumer.