Northbrook’s single-use bag tax charges one dime per bag.

When life changes on a dime, a nickel may not be worth a dime to shoppers in need of change and change.

Retail customers who forget reusable bags will have to dig deeper to purchase paper or plastic bags at more than 40 Northbrook retailers with square footage of 3,000 or more.

Since January 1, Northbrook’s tax ordinance on single-use bags has been charging customers one dime per bag. Retailers and the village split the tax 50/50.

One nickel offsets the retailer’s investment. The village’s nickel benefits sustainability initiatives.

“Americans’ habit of using something and then throwing it away is ridiculous,” said customer Dave Mucha of Northbrook, who reused a CVS plastic bag at Northbrook’s Dollar Tree on April 30.

Around New Year’s Day, a retail chain had problems with its software registration, which prevented it from collecting taxes from customers.

If companies are double-checking bags and not charging double fees, “If a cashier does that, he is violating the regulation and subjecting his employer to an audit finding,” said Rob Karr, president and CEO of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association (IRMA).

“How do you explain one being torn?”

“You put it at the cash register and it tears,” Karr said. ‘Do you get a new one, or do you just get a new one because it is not usable and you don’t have to charge for it because it is torn?

“It becomes very difficult on the audit side.”

Grocery chains like Mariano’s or Trader Joe’s have Northbrook residents considering shopping in Glenview to receive free bags similar to the ones Northbrook customers pay for.

In a Village of Northbrook press release in February, Capt. Rich Seifert of Northbrook’s Trader Joe said, “Environmentally, this bag ordinance is doing its part and our customers have supported it.”

Kathryn Ciesla, president of Northbrook Village, said, “Since introducing our single-use bag tax in January, I am thrilled with the progress in its implementation and general acceptance by the public and business community.

“This initiative underscores our commitment to environmental stewardship and further progress in building a greener, more sustainable Northbrook,” Ciesla said.

Reducing the number of single-use bags is a priority in Northbrook’s Climate Action Plan (CAP). A Village of Glenview spokesperson told Pioneer Press (on April 24) that Glenview is not considering a bag tax.

Sheri Latash of Glenview, co-founder of Greener Glenview, a subsidiary of Go Green Illinois, said, “Greener Glenview is not advocating a bag tax,” indicating that the tax is “more administratively complex than you might suspect.

“Greener Glenview supports efforts to reduce the consumption of single-use plastics, but we are not leading the way in Glenview,” Latash said. “We are tapped on other things.”

The Northbrook Chamber of Commerce & Industry did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Northbrook’s bag tax is “probably not good for business,” said Cindy Miller of Northbrook, who visited Philip’s Shoe Clinic (1945 Cherry Lane) on April 30 at the business of Oscar Ruiz of Deerfield.

Miller said there have been “times where I’m like, ‘Oh, should I just go to Jewel (in Glenview),’ then I don’t have to deal with it.”

“I don’t like paying taxes if I forget them.”

Miller didn’t use a bag to bring Ruiz a pair of shoes that required shoelaces. Ruiz ordered about 200 reusable bags and offered them for free before January 1. Customers often bring in items for repair in preferred containers, Ruiz said.

“It’s a good idea to tax,” Ruiz said, but “I don’t use bags.”

Ruiz said he received a visit from village officials during the last week of April who asked Philip’s Shoe Clinic about the bag tax.

“I don’t charge them (customers) because I don’t give them bags,” Ruiz said. ‘What do you want me to charge? For their own bags?”

The Village identified 18 businesses (as of April 18) that had not submitted tax receipts or data.

The 18 company names were not revealed at a Sustainability Commission meeting on April 18. The Village required Pioneer Press to file a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the 18 names. A Freedom of Information Act request was extended twice by the village, with May 10 the next response.

In a Village memo from Kate Carney, the village’s new sustainability coordinator, Carney said that in February, receipts from retailers with square footage of 3,000 to 20,000 square feet paid $460.55 in taxes.

Also in February, businesses with an area of ​​more than 20,000 square meters paid $6,588.55 in taxes. The village’s February share was $7,049.10 on 140,982 bags.

The number of bags sold “is quite staggering,” Carney said, while Sustainability Commission member Tracy Lee said: “Shame, I was hoping it had actually just gone down.”

In January, the village received $8,338.25, which equates to 166,765 bags sold.

Jonathan Mendel, director of the village’s development and planning services, said: “Those are very large numbers.”

Carney said: “We have a number of large retailers who have not reported any transfers, so unfortunately I believe both figures will rise, but that’s OK.

“This is going to give us some really nice baselines so that we can continue to communicate with our residents and with the retail industry about the importance of reducing these numbers,” Carney said.

Rob Karr said collecting the tax from merchants is “how you do that and whether the local government is going to take advantage of audit-type situations and it’s going to be very difficult.”

Of the shoppers angry about the tax: “That’s what the tax is aimed at, which is the consumers, and unfortunately the retailers are in the line of fire with the consumers,” Karr said.

Northbrook Ace Hardware did not comment. George Garner Jr., co-owner of George Garner Cyclery, said, “We don’t make many bags at all,” with accessories often installed on bicycles.

“I agree with the concept of the bag tax,” Garner said. “It’s definitely a step in the right direction to have less waste in the world.”

The Northbrook Village Board of Trustees will likely hear an update on the single-use bag tax later in May.

Karie Angell Luc is a freelancer for Pioneer Press.