Consumers likely will be paying more than the 10 cents tax on plastic bags from this coming Sunday when the new Green Tax rules come into force.
As from the 15th of February plastic bags will need to be charged for in order to cover the 10 cent additional cost payable by the retailer. It is unlikely that retailers will be covering the extra 10 cents and the cost of the bag.
Supermarkets, bookshops, pharmacies, no category is exempt and all will have to pass on 8 cents in tax plus IVA as part of the government’s less than welcomed Green Taxation drive which already has seen motorists pay up to 4 or 5 cents more per litre of fuel for no great benefit to the environment.
The Minister of the Environment, 42-year-old Jorge Moreira da Silva, insists that these taxes are needed to reduce pollution, and says the new laws are ‘following guidelines from the European Union.’
Consumers will be keen to see which retailers charge only the 10 cents and which charge the tax plus the cost price of the bag.
Generally, plastic bags with handles are taxable and clear plastic bags used to transport fruit, vegetables, meat and fish are not subject to the new tax.
The Ministry of the Environment hopes that overall its Green Taxation efforts will raise €167 million this year with a €40 million contribution from the plastic bag tax.
The government has admitted that €150 million of the money raised will actually be used to reduce income tax, with only the remaining €17 million going towards nature conservation measures.
Environmental groups have been slow to criticise the inequality of most of the Green Tax going towards government spending plans other than on the environment.
One thing is for sure, based on other countries' experiences, shoppers will be hoarding and reusing plastic bags to avoid the new charges and the €40 million target, 38 bags per head of population, may be hard to achieve with shoppers in no mood to waste money.
The VAT added to the Green Tax is another contentious issue but Portugal has no qualms in adding taxes to taxes, a trick especially popular in the motor industry.
