A new tax will fall like a stone on large consumer corporations. The tax on non-reusable plastics will come into effect on January 1 and will mean an additional cost of €690m per year for these businesses. The government continues without backing down on its reach, as other European neighbors have done, and businesses are preparing to face a tax that adds to the mix of regulatory costs added in recent years. In addition, it lands in the fabric of business between uncertainty and legal uncertainty due to ignorance of its specific application when there are only two weeks left to implement it. Companies already know that they will have to contribute €0.45 for each kilogram of these materials they use, and they also know which products will be affected by this measure. a little more. A few days after it came into effect, the government has yet to publish the ministerial order developing the implementation of the tax. This generates uncertainty among companies, “faced, for example, with their first-quarter announcement,” they note from the supermarket employers’ association, Asedas. There are more questions. The association that represents 75% of the commercial area for food products in Spain (Mercadona, Lidl, Dia, Ahorramas …) also shows its concern about how the tax will tax imports of these products from other countries of the European Union. Spain is the first country in the European Union to implement the tax, and therefore the only country that will adapt its systems to the tax. Thus, they fear that foreign suppliers will treat Spanish companies less because it is difficult to apply and end up causing supply problems. Also when exporting. Supermarkets still don’t know how they can deduct the tax when selling a product abroad. It is not at all clear to do this repatriation, and “to this day, companies do not know how they will be able to implement it.” In total, the sector indicates an impact of 30 million per year due to the implementation of this tax, although it may be higher due to the administrative, bureaucratic and computational costs resulting from adjusting to the tax. Expenses that already threaten to make food prices more expensive. Related Record News No plastics entrepreneurs warn of higher prices for consumers as Spain is the only EU country to implement a tax Jose Luis Fernandez producers from Alicante launch campaign against “demonization” of the material and warn Germany and Italy will compensate the industry But the list of those affected is longer much. Food and beverage companies, perfumes and cosmetics, pharmacies, hotels, textiles, appliances and electrical appliances companies are also showing the same doubts. Tribute affects a variety of items including Tetra Bricks, preforms, shrink wrap, and polystyrene boxes, as well as twenty other items. In short, single-use products designed to contain, protect, handle, distribute, and deliver goods, “whether empty or providing the function for which they are designed.” Incorporating costs In general, the tax will be the last straw for some companies that in recent years have added more than a billion in additional costs such as those derived from replacing light plastic bags; Toilets to adjust to covid regulations or even other taxes like fluorinated gases. A study of new costs incurred by the commercial sector in Spain published by CEOE last year estimated new costs incurred for trade alone at around €1,500m, once the plastics tax was introduced. Some companies already pay corporate tax, value added tax, income tax, IVI and twenty special taxes per sector. Businesses have moved aggressively in recent weeks to force the government to implement a tax extension like the one implemented by Italy (until January 1, 2024). The employers’ association of major consumer companies, Aecoc, sent out an SOS at the beginning of December warning that its entry into the current inflationary context threatens to drain businesses, jobs and investments.
