States Consider Pinning Taxes on Throwaways

Laws aimed at curbing widespread use of disposable diapers, blamed for aggravating waste-disposal problems, are being debated in a dozen states, and an outright ban has been proposed for Vermont.

Most of the bills have little chance of becoming law, at least this year. In Florida, a bill was withdrawn pending further study of the issue.

Most of the proposals call for a tax on throwaway diapers. In corn-growing states, biodegradable diapers are being pushed because corn is used in their manufacture.

In Colorado, for instance, a bill to tax disposables 0.25 cents per diaper was sent off to three committees--usually the kiss of death.

“That baby’s going to go down like a burning kite, if I know the Colorado Legislature,” said one veteran reporter.

He knew his legislature. The bill was killed in its first day of hearings.

In New Hampshire, a plan co-sponsored by Deborah Arnie Arnesen, Democrat from Orford, would levy a tax of 10 cents a diaper. No, she doesn’t think it will pass in this session.

“This is a very industrial state,” said Arnesen, a mother of four. “Procter & Gamble could come in here and run for governor and win. We don’t even have a bottle (deposit-refund) law. It would be almost irrational for something to pass the first time around. There isn’t enough time to assess the situation.”

Isn’t a 10-cent tax a little steep?

“It’s politics,” she said. “You ask for the sun, the moon and the stars and then you compromise down.

“When it gets to the point that a family may save $15 a week by using a diaper service, and when some good marketers come in here, then maybe people will start to use cloth diapers at least part of the time.”

Arnesen said she would be the first to oppose a state ban on disposables.

“You can’t ignore the convenience factor,” she said. “When I brought my 5-week-old daughter to the Legislature with me, I wasn’t about to ask committee members to sit in a smelly room. It was enough they put up with the baby.”

Other states that have or are considering diaper legislation include New York, Connecticut, Oregon, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Washington, Hawaii, Ohio and Kentucky.