TAXES on plastic packaging are to be introduced in next year’s budget as part of attempts to cut environmental waste.
Spain’s government plan to limit the most environmentally damaging single-use plastic products and hope to raise 1.8 billion euros from the new ‘green’ taxes.
Ministers are also considering a higher levy on sugary beverages in the hope of raising a total of 6.8 billion euros ($7.96 billion), its draft budget showed.
The hike will see value-added tax on sweetened beverages jump from 10% to 21%.
Parliament has already given its green light to the implementation of the two more controversial taxs.
Firstly the so-called Google tax that will see a 3% tax on digital services, such as advertising and data sales, on revenues booked locally by large tech firms such as Google, Amazon and Facebook.
A second controversial tax, known as ‘Tobin tax’, is expected to raise 850 million euros next year in Spain. A 0.2% rate would be applied to transactions of shares of listed companies with a market cap higher than 1 billion euros.
Spain sent the budget plan, which projects a deficit of 7.7% and an economic rebound of at least 7.2% as previously announced, to the European Commission late on Thursday.
This year, the government expects a recession of 11.2% – the worst since the civil war – and a budget gap of 11.3% due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
