Another brilliant idea from the state Legislature: Queens Assemblyman Michael DenDekker wants to slap a one-cent deposit on every cigarette sold in the state — to be redeemed when the butts are turned in for “recycling.”
The bill, he says, will “clean our environment a little” and “create jobs.”
Certainly, it goes a long way toward explaining the pathetic state of New York’s economy that this is what Albany pols think of as an engine of growth.
Not that some folks wouldn’t benefit:
* Street people would acquire a new stream of income, which appears to be DenDekker’s intent: “Just as people pick up . . . bottles and cans, people will pick up filters [from the street],” he says.
* Buttlegging Indian tribes would see their business shoot up, thanks to the effective 20-cent-per-pack cigarette tax that everyone except them would have to pay.
* Then there’s the new employees government would have to hire to haul away millions of germy cigarette butts. (And you thought there was a fiscal crisis!)
Don’t these people have a budget to pass or something?