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The Vietnamese Ministry of Finance suggested adding “foam plastic boxes for packaging and containing food” on the list of goods subject to the environmental tax.
A striking result of the revision of the current Environmental Act is that the identification of taxable plastic bags causes problems. The Environmental Tax Law stipulates that the concept and name of plastic bags that cause environmental pollution are not in accordance with the Environmental Protection Law. Under the provisions of Clause 3, Article 64 of Decision No. 08/2022/ND-CP, non-biodegradable plastic packaging includes non-biodegradable plastic bags and styrofoam plastic boxes for packaging and containing food. The current Environmental Protection Tax Act regulates taxes on plastic bags, but not on styrofoam packaging and food containers.
photo: internet
According to the Ministry of Finance, foam plastic packaging products, food containers, collectively called foam plastic boxes, are currently widely used. They are very common in food processing plants, restaurants and catering companies because of their convenience, light weight and low price. The price of a foam box (for example, the size of common Vietnamese street food such as glutinous rice, rice, dumplings, etc.) ranges from 120,000 VND (about $5.5) to 230,000 VND (about $10) per box (box of 600 pieces) , and could be much cheaper when bought in bulk. On average, the price is about 290 VND (about $0.012) each. Meanwhile, the price for a sustainable alternative, say a sugar cane box, could be significantly higher, at around 3,000 VND (about $0.13) each.
The use of foam plastic containers for food carries several risks of health and environmental damage. Like plastic bags, foam plastic products are difficult to degrade and often take a long time to degrade in the environment, approximately 400 to 1,000 years. Although the government has implemented many solutions to limit the use of Styrofoam plastic boxes, due to its low cost and the fact that the habit of using and disposing of Vietnamese household waste is still relatively low, the situation of using and disposal of foam plastic boxes is still uncontrollable.
photo: VTV
To (1) comply with environmental protection law and ensure the limitation of production and use of products and goods that cause environmental pollution when used, (2) ensure that all cases occurring in reality are covered, ensure fairness , in accordance with the principles of environmental tax collection on goods that cause environmental pollution when used, regardless of the purpose of use, to (3) be suitable for the purpose of environmental tax policy reform to reduce the taxable objects in the Tax Reform Strategy to extend to 2030, and to (4) contribute to increasing revenue from the state budget, the Ministry of Finance proposed to add “foam plastic boxes for packaging, containing food containers” are subject to environmental stress.
The general sense “non-biodegradable plastic packaging” would replace “taxed plastic bags” to cover taxable items, including plastic bags that are difficult to distinguish from biodegradable, Styrofoam packaging and food containers (removal of the name and concept of plastic bags subject to environmental protection tax).
Therefore, to ensure adequate scientific and practical support when proposing to add objects subject to environmental protection tax, the Ministry of Finance will work with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and other relevant ministries and agencies to determine the level of environmental contamination of products and goods that cause environmental pollution. Therefore, it is possible to propose the addition of products and goods to the subjects of the environmental protection tax, in addition, the specific environmental protection tax framework and rates for products and goods can be supplemented accordingly when submitting a request for the formulation of the tax bill on environmental protection (changed).
By means of Tram An Pham (www.highgoodhuman.com)
