Same Song, Different Vice

As I was driving home today, I heard an item on WTOP about the $0.05/bag fee the DC City Council put into place last year. As reported on the radio, the program was or was not a success, depending on what standard you judge it. Turns out that while the program accomplished one of its stated goals in cutting plastic bag usage by about half, revenue from the program came in at about $2 million. And they were anticipating about twice that much. Imagine that. I wonder how they calculated their revenue projections (answer: they probably hired the CBO).

As with similar sin taxes on things like cigarettes and alcohol, I'm sure the statists had some trouble deciding whether to cheer or lament the revenue they didn't take in.