Italy postpones plastic tax as part of economic recovery plan

A tax on plastic in Italy supposed to come into effect this year will be pushed back until at least January 2021.

The plastic tax had been included in Italy’s 2020 Budget Law.

While the tax had been due to come into force this year, manufacturers argued that it would hurt struggling producers – in particular, the region of Emilia-Romagna, where most plastic producing companies are located, asked the government to delay the tax, due to new economic pressures from the coronavirus crisis.

The tax on plastics was already controversial before the pandemic erupted. First announced in early 2019, Italy’s government halved the planned tax in November 2019 after pressure from plastic manufacturers, from one euro per kilogram of plastic product down to 50 cents per kilogram.

The announcement to delay the tax until next year is part of Italy’s “Relaunch Decree” introduced by the government this week to help the country begin to recover from COVID-19.