Ireland To Levy Tax On Litter

by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London

17 July 2003

Following on from the success of the plastic bag tax, Ireland is set to introduce a raft of new taxes on such things as chewing gum, polystyrene food containers and cash machine receipts in a bid to clean up the nation's streets.

The government announced the measures earlier this week, and is expected to levy a five to ten euro cents tax on a packet of chewing gum that will help pay for specialist 'gum busting' machines. The tax on polystyrene food containers is designed to encourage fast food outlets to switch to recyclable material, though details on the size of the levy have yet to be confirmed.

The plastic bag tax, introduced in March 2002, has proved very successful in reducing the number of bags handed over in supermarkets and just 23 million bags were given out by shops in the three months immediately after its introduction - around 277 million less than would be expected. Where previously shoppers received plastic bags for free, they now must stump up 15 euro cents per bag.

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