The Italian government has postponed the implementation of the plastic tax from July 1, 2024, to the same date in 2026.
The decision was included in a May 13 amendment to the country’s superbonus legislative decree, which first entered into law in 2020. Since then, the implementation of the plastic tax has been postponed seven times.
The law aims to reduce the production and consumption of plastic. It introduces a tax of €0.45 per kilogram of non-recyclable plastic packaging (MACSI). Examples of products affected by the tax include bottles, carrier bags, polyethylene food containers, tetra pack containers, expanded polystyrene packaging and plastic caps. Disposable packaging produced from compostable bioplastics or recycled materials, as well as packaging of medical devices, pharmaceutical or medical packaging, are exempt.
The law also stipulated high penalties for those that fail to pay the plastic tax. This penalty is between two and five times the unpaid tax – but at least 250 euros. Late payments are also sanctioned and incur an administrative fee of 25 percent of the tax owed, or at least 150 euros.
On the other hand, another much-disputed tax – the sugar tax – has not been postponed and is still scheduled to come into force on July 1. The decision is causing tensions in the center-right coalition government, made up of Brothers of Italy (FDL in Italian), the League and Forza Italia. Parliamentarians of Forza Italia expressed "perplexity" at the approval of the new amendment despite it being voted against in Parliament which argued for a two-year postponement alongside the plastic tax.
Italy’s superbonus law has had a devastating impact on public finances and is responsible for much of the country’s massive debt. First introduced in 2020, its offers included paying homeowners 110 percent of the cost of energy-saving renovations. That proved substantially more popular than the government expected, leading to 160 billion euros in spending over four years, as opposed to the 35 billion euros over a 15-year period first predicted by the government.
The new amendment is expected to alleviate public finances by extending the repayment plan from four to 10 years, for expenses in the 2024 fiscal year onward.