Israel’s new shopping bag law, which requires consumers to pay for all bags used at supermarkets, isn’t quite as pleasant to live under as one MK imagined it would be.
The law, which was passed late last March, went into effect on January 1st, and levies a 10 agurot (2.6 cent) tax for each plastic shopping bag taken from the checkout counter in most supermarkets and major retail stores.
Despite being passed unanimously by the Knesset, the law has provoked a sharp backlash from consumers who say the tax have slowed down checkouts at stores and supermarkets, and works as an effectively regressive tax on poorer families with large numbers of children.
At least one of those MKs responsible for turning the bill into law now appears to have changed his mind after praising its passage last year.
Ten months ago, Bezalel Smotrich (Jewish Home), openly bragged about the Knesset’s night session to pass the bill, writing: “Its 2:55 at night. We unanimously passed now the bag law for the second and third readings. [We] work on your behalf even during the wee hours of the night.”
But since the law went into effect, Smotrich has changed his tune, calling the law “degrading”.
“I just left Rami Levy [a supermarket chain]. There aren’t any bags – so there aren’t any workers bagging groceries,” Smotrich wrote on Twitter Sunday. “What a great way [Finance Minister] Kahlon found for tycoons to cut down on costs with this stupid, unnecessary law.”
Smotrich later added, “More than just the money, it’s such a degrading experience to have the cashier counting how many bags you’re using.”