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Stop the Tax on Working Families, the leading opposition committee to the Plastics Tax Initiative, announced that CalChamber President and CEO Jennifer Barrera will serve as a campaign co-chair working to defeat the measure, which has qualified for the November 2022 ballot.
“Imposing a $9 billion tax on Californians right now is not the way to increase plastics recycling,” said Barrera. “Consumers are already dealing with inflation and rising costs and so are California’s small business employers. If the measure passes, food and other necessities will cost even more for consumers and, because the measure taxes virtually all consumer goods packaging, it will be a new tax on businesses. In the midst of economic instability, new taxes should be off the table.”
The initiative’s proposed tax increase and stringent regulatory provisions could saddle the average family of four with more than $900 per year in higher costs. Even with the consumer cost increase and despite more than doubling what Californians currently pay for recycling programs, the measure is unlikely to meet the state’s recycling diversion goals.
Further, tax revenue from the initiative is diverted to special interests rather than reinvesting into the recycling and composting systems necessary to ensure a circular economy can be achieved. Finally, due to government mandates and higher costs that will result if the initiative passes, California will become less competitive.
The California Chamber of Commerce is the largest broad-based business advocate in California, with more than 14,000 members who collectively employ one-fourth of the private sector workforce in California.
