Plastic bag manufacturers complained about implementation of an environment tax to take effect from January 1 next year, at a seminar hosted by environment and tax authorities in Ho Chi Minh City on Thursday.
The seminar was hosted by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, the General Department of Taxation and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to assess replacing of plastic bags with bio-degradable bags.
Truong Minh Dung, deputy director of Tan Dai Thanh Company said that his company manufactures plastic bags and wanted a chance to air his views as well. He thought that it was less than a year from the time the environment tax was drafted until its implementation. The tax personnel have still to learn procedures before they can guide businesses on the new tax.
Vo Ngoc Thu, former general director of Vietnam Plastics Corporation said that Vietnam Plastics Association had suggested many times to authorized organizations to find a reasonable route in implementing the environment tax. For instance the tax rate could begin at VND10,000 a kilogram instead of the current VND40,000.
Besides, authorities should lay out criteria for manufacturing environment friendly bags before they begin to tax plastic bags. This will help businesses to switch to producing bio-degradable bags.
Several delegates at the seminar shared this view and said that criteria for producing environment friendly bags should be given at least one year before implementing the environment tax. It is still unknown which department will determine this criteria.
On the other hand, they said that authorized organizations might use this as a pretext to hike prices, especially ahead of Tet Lunar New Year.
Tan Phong Plastics Company said that 99 percent of shops in the market are using plastic carry bags. Such high tax rates of VND40,000 a kilogram might lead businesses to increase prices of commodities, affecting the government’s price subsidized program.
Nguyen Trung Viet, head of the Solid Waste Management Division under the Department of Natural Resources and Environment said that Vietnam manufactures an average of about 800,000 tons of plastic bags per year, of which HCMC alone accounts for 80 percent.
With the above tax rate, plastic manufacturers will be expected to pay VND9-15 trillion each year. This will affect businesses’ and residents who will be left with no alternative choice to plastic bags.
The lack of criteria in certifying bio-degradable bags has created an unfair disadvantage for companies that have been manufacturing plastic bags of international quality standards for several years.
Representatives of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the General Department of Taxation said they had recorded the above viewpoints and would report the same to higher authorities.
