Chamber urges revision of plastic carrier bags tax plan

The Chamber of Commerce today urged the government to abandon plans to tax all plastic carrier bags at equal rates, saying this made no business, economic and environmental sense.

The Chamber said that although it agreed with the polluter pays principle, it also believed that tax should be used as an instrument to encourage environmentally efficient plastic and other materials.

It felt that bags should be taxed on a diminishing scale according to the environmental efficiency of the plastic. Bio-degradable bags should remain zero rated, as published in a 2005 legal notice.

"At the time, operators responded by investing in biodegradable plastic carriers. Now with the change in policy, the goalposts were once again being shifted, creating undue uncertainty, in an already uncertain economic climate," it said.

The Chamber also argued that plans for the obligatory printing of an “identification/audit-trail” details (label) on each side of carrier bags amounted to a barrier to trade for businesses which import either for their own use or to re-sell.

See also

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090201/local/biodegradable-plastic-bags-might-be-tax-free-after-all/