But that’s the point, of course. The Examiner reports today that the bag tax will fall short in creating the revenue it was expected to. Projections had the tax producing four million dollars for cleanup efforts by the end of the fiscal year on September 30, but the program has only brought in about $1.5 million so far. Of course, the pure numbers overlook the fact that the whole point of the bill was to eliminate the tax base — that is, the number of people who have to pay five cents for plastic bags at stores. Obviously, the District government had doubts that the tax would actually do what it was designed to do, at least so quickly.