Points:
Implementing a plastic bag tax would be beneficial for Hong Kong - because: implementing plastic bag tax helps protect the environment
 - because: the tax helps change the attitude and behavior of the community in plastic bag consumption
 - because: the tax deters people from using unnecessary plastic bags
 - because: A tax on plastic shopping bags in the Republic of Ireland has cut their use by more than 90% (news.bbc.co.uk)

- because: on no-plastic bag days, which are held one day a month, an average of 50 percent of shoppers bring along their own bags (www.thestandard.com.hk)
- because: with the tax implemented, people will try to replace the use of disposable plastic bags with recycled bags whenever it is possible
- because: It can protect the environment since the amount of plastic bag people used will be decreased efficiently.
- because: the government expects to cut the number of plastic bags used annually from the current 1.8 billion to one billion (www.thestandard.com.hk)
- because: the tax enhances public awareness of environment protection
- but: retailers will switch to alternatives such as paper bags, which are actually more polluting
- but: plastic bag is not the most urgent environmental problem, government should focus on those more serious environmental issues
 - but: around 1064 tonnes of plastic bags are disposed in landfills every day, which roughly equals 33 millions plastic bags (www.budget.gov.hk)
 - because: the government should support and develop recycling industry instead of just levying tax on plastic bag
- because: usually 100 percent of a plastic bag can be recycled and the recycling process does not pollute (Wikipedia (2019))
- because: plastic bags are extraordinarily energy-efficient in manufacture, even more so than paper bags (www.bpf.co.uk)
- because: plastic bags prevent waste of goods carried, and the embodied energy can be recovered either by recycling or via energy-from-waste systems (www.bpf.co.uk)
- because: disposable plastic bags are usually bio-degradable, while polystyrene utensils, which are not, causes more problems to the environment
- but: implementing plastic bag tax greatly affect the daily living of the people
- but: many of the daily goods will be exempted
- because: levying plastic bag tax will greatly affect the business of small supermarkets
- because: plastic bags are useful and provide a hygienic, odourless, waterproof, robust and convenient way of carrying goods
- but: plastic bag tax is unfair
- but: the tax is indeed fair as it is levied on "user pays" principle
- because: it is a regressive tax, it is not proportional to people's salaries, higher income people do not need to pay higher plastic bag tax
- but: both lower and higher income people can avoid the tax by not using plastic bags, so the regressive argument does not apply
- because: implementing plastic bag tax has positive effects to Hong Kong's economy in the long run
- but: implementing plastic bag tax will severely affect the business and livelihood of polymer producers, distributors and suppliers, additives suppliers, processors
- because: the tax helps project the image of Hong Kong as an environmentally-friendly city in the world, this helps attract talent to work in Hong Kong
- because: the tax is good for environmental protection business development
- because: implementing plastic bag tax helps increase government revenue
- but: according to overseas experience, revenue to be generated from ecotax would usually be deployed to other environmental protection schemes (www.taxreform.gov.hk)
- because: the main objective of the tax is to change the attitude and behavior of the community in order to conserve the environment instead of raising government revenue (www.taxreform.gov.hk)
- because: the government expects to generate about HK$200 million a year from the plastic bag tax (www.thestandard.com.hk)
- because: A tax on plastic shopping bags in the Republic of Ireland has raised millions of euros in revenue (news.bbc.co.uk)
- because: plastic bag tax helps broaden the tax base of the government
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