Shopkeepers have two more months to use up plastic bags stock
Shopkeepers have been given up to the end of April to use up their existing stocks of plastic bags although the regulations through which bags have to be charged eco and value added taxation will start applying on Sunday.
Resources Minister George Pullicino said this afternoon that following consultation with the GRTU, shopkeepers were being given an extra two months to utilise their stocks. Any remaining stock then could be given to the government up to mid-May, for a refund of the eco-tax paid against the original receipt.
According to the new regulations announced in the last budget, plastic bags have to be charged an eco-tax of 15c plus value added tax. The cost of the bag has to be punched on the fiscal receipt.
March 1 new regulations will start applying. Bags 15c Eco tax + Vat, punched on fiscal receipt.
Mr Pullicino said that the eco tax on bags introduced in 2004 had reduced use by 50 per cent but then producers found loop holes which resulted in an influx of plastic bags.
Replying to criticism, including by the Labour Party, the minister said that a total ban on plastic bags would not have made any sense because since the EU wasone market, if plastic bags were available in Italy, they had to be available in Malta.
GRTU director general Vince Farrugia said the chamger was all in favour of the initiative. Shops spent around 3.5 million euros a year to distribute free plastic bags, a cost which consumers were paying for through products.
The aim of hte transition period, he said, was for consumers not to expect free plastic bags, not buy such bags and go for alternative bags.
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Liz Navarro
Feb 28th 2009, 13:53
I'm a new shop owner and everyone knows how hard it is to invest in a new shop!! Is this the kind of help we are going to get to generate more jobs??? I had 5200 bags delivered on the morning of the budget day!! This was my first consignment as I had just opened and shop owners all know that companies that provide bags do not accept smaller orders!! I haven't even used 200 yet!! So now what ???? Government is telling me to throw them all away in 2 months?????? And make more debt on other bags???? While ministers and their families enjoy their soft drinks in plastic bottles!! This new law should of been introduced on 1st APRIL not 1st March!! Then we could maybe laugh about it!
J. Abela
Feb 27th 2009, 22:18
Keep in mind that 17c PER bag is not cheap. Bio-delegradable plastic bags should not be charged. Well seems like the goverment didn't want to risk any loopholes so just put all the eggs in one basket.
W&E Tariffs, speed-camera cash traps, plastic bags measures + VAT, Wastage tax, car registration tax issues....forgot something else....???!! breathless....
Alexander Galea
Feb 27th 2009, 19:50
George Pullicino and company, at last you said the truth "TAX". Stop feeding us with sick excuses, if you wanted to protect the environment you would not have introduced plastic bottles to replace glass ones. Plastic bags can be bio-degradable and a lot of people used them as small garbage bags.
S Apap
Feb 27th 2009, 19:40
I am a shopkeeper. So we are getting an eco-tax refund on existing stock of bags. But who is going to pay for the actual cost of the bags that we now have to somehow replace? Maybe Mr Farrugia can answer?
philip pace
Feb 27th 2009, 19:04
So to all concerned, on Sunday we shall have the launching of the most expensive plastic bags in the whole wide planet.
It shall make it in the Guiness Book Of Records.
A record that makes this wafer thin majority of a Government ultra proud as it would enchance Malta's perverse thinking in the world!.
A 100% exercise in Vat collecting!
Enjoy your Sunday then and don't forget the gewlaq and the cloth bags.
Alfred Cassar
Feb 27th 2009, 18:51
I think there shouldn't be an extra tax on biodegradable plastic bags. These are environment friendly.
Roberta Metsola Tedesco Triccas
Feb 27th 2009, 18:40
I wrote an article on this topic which was published in the Times on the 11th February and outlines my stand on the issue.
In it I stated that::
"....A crucial element will be to find measures that draw a clear line between non-degradable plastic bags, which take up to 400 years to disintegrate, and biodegradable plastic bags that immediately start to disintegrate as soon as they come in contact with the elements. Giving a clear choice between paying a minimum of 15c for a non-degradable plastic bag or much less for a biodegradable bag that is not taxed will be advantageous for consumers.
Sometimes when cost may not be the deciding factor, one should have the possibility to opt for the more eco-friendly option (that is, a biodegradable bag) without having to pay more. Naturally, those consumers who don't want to pay anything would go for the best option of using a cloth bag...".
You can read the full article at http://www.roberta2009.eu/rtt/content.aspx?id=118223
Thanks,
Roberta
roberta@roberta2009.eu
www.roberta2009.eu
Paul Borg
Feb 27th 2009, 17:52
I wonder howcome plastic bags (which are re-useable for various other purposes) are seen as a hazzard to the enviroment, while plastic bottles (which are useable only once) are not. Eversince the introduction of plastic bottles for softdrinks, Malta has become one big plastic bottle litter dump.
Paul Barrett
Feb 27th 2009, 16:51
Tax on a tax - I thought it was against EU laws to charge VAT on a tax - hence the car registration turmoil.
Emanuel Vella
Feb 27th 2009, 16:49
Isn't the issue of VAT on eco tax similar to the VAT on car registration tax? Can government tax a tax? What next, VAT on income tax? If the European Commission decrees that this is illegal, how do we get our refunds? Will we need to institute a court case per bag? This country is swiftly going from the sublime to the ridiculuous..........
P. Cortis
Feb 27th 2009, 16:26
So, according to Mr. Vince Farrugia, shop owners will be lowering prices since they will not be paying for plastic bags themselves!
For sure, now he is talking as a PN candidate not as a Union.
Ronnie Gauci
Feb 27th 2009, 16:25
This is another tax, punto e basta.
M Psaila
Feb 27th 2009, 16:05
Whatever Mr Farrugia says from now on is irrevelant. Once public figures choose to take part in partisan politics they lose credibility.
As for eco tax on bags, it is nothing but a sop when streets are littered with plastic drinks bottles.
Who's kidding who?
Kaydee Zammit
Feb 27th 2009, 15:50
Yes, Malta is a very progressive country indeed. We'll have to pay for bags, people are making a fuss because students get a stipend, which by the way is often the only possible source of income for students, riots are starting weekly in detention centers... This is all very well and good. I'm so proud to be a Maltese right now - we're charging for plastic bags! This is only being done for shop owners, just as the law of not drinking out of a plastic cup at Paceville being done for them as well (come on, what can you do with a plastic bag?). The new speed cameras are only being implemented to generate more revenue, while electricity and water bills are always going higher. Fuel will remain high for some time since a contract was signed to buy the fuel at sky-high prices - I really do not know whose bright idea that was. We should really be proud to be Maltese.
J.Borg
Feb 27th 2009, 15:25
So now we will be having Mr.Farrugia agreeing with the government. That's good advertising for the coming EP june elections.
You want be elected by the shop owners only Mr.Farrugia, you wil be needing votes from the common people as well.
15c + vat = 17.7 rounded to 18c (or 7c7 from the old coins)