JUNEAU -- Voters in Juneau will decide a 15-cent tax on plastic shopping bags in the Oct. 4 election.

Proposition No. 5 asks whether local laws should be changed to allow for the tax, which would be assessed for each bag a person uses. The tax would be collected by large retailers that sell grocery, hardware, liquor or sundry items. City Manager Rod Swope said four or five businesses fit that criterion.

Plastic bag litter has become such a common blight in recent decades that communities worldwide have banned the bags. The tax is to encourage the use of reusable bags.