ESDO appeals to the Ministry of Finance of Bangladesh to reconsider the proposed tax withdrawal from plastic bags!
Dhaka 23 rd June 2022: ‘Government should reconsider the decision of the existing supplementary duty withdrawal on all types of polythene bags’, said Syed Marghub Murshed, Former Secretary of Government of people’s republic of Bangladesh and Chairperson of ESDO. This demand was made at a press briefing organized by Environment and Social Development Organization-ESDO today (Thursday) at ESDO head office.
The Finance Minister of the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, AHM Mustafa Kamal in the 2022-23 budget has proposed withdrawing the existing 5% supplementary duty on all types of polythene and plastic bags. The proposal, including withdrawal of duty on oven plastic bags and wrapping materials made of polyethylene, was placed to make the business environment friendlier and reduce the tax burden at the local manufacturing level.
Regarding the recent budget proposal, ESDO published a statement that focused on the writ petition where The Bangladesh High Court has ordered the concerned authorities to prepare the ground for banning single-use plastics in coastal areas. Following the High Court’s order, the Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change has issued a gazette instructing all concerned to completely stop the use of single-use plastic products such as single-use plastic plates, glasses, cups & cutleries, straws, Styrofoam food packaging/ coffee stirrers, lollypop cover sachet, cigarette filter, cotton buds, non-recyclable and non-biodegradable (multilayer packaging) products from 12 exposed coastal districts of Bangladesh by 2023. The statement also highlights the historic resolution to End Plastic Pollution and build an international legally enforceable agreement by 2024 at the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-5) where 175 nations including Bangladesh supported the agreement.
Dr. Shahriar Hossain, Secretary General of ESDO who recently attended the multi-stakeholder dialogues for ad hoc
open-ended working group working on the Inter-Governmental Negotiation Committee developing a legally binding
instrument on plastic pollution in Senegal said, “A global plastic treaty has been decided and we will get a roadmap by 2024. It is high time we should take the necessary steps from our side to beat the plastic pollution just like neighboring country India and Canada who did a tremendous work regarding the matter. Bangladesh along with other South Asian countries should work alongside India to reduce plastic pollution from this region.” “For starters, Higher taxes need to be imposed on single-use plastic products to decrease their usage’, he added.
‘If it is accepted, the proposal will welcome single-use plastic and it will definitely go wrong for our environment’, said Siddika Sultana, Executive Director of the Environment and Social Development Organization. Since the neighboring country, India is banning the production and sale of single-use plastic products. In that case, there is a fear of increasing cross-border illicit trade and Bangladesh will become a plastic hub.
In addition to this statement, ESDO has filed a petition to the Finance Minister of Bangladesh seeking reconsideration of the proposed supplementary duty on plastic bags and imposition of higher taxes on disposable plastic products.
For more information, please contact:
Hridita Ferdous
Assistant Program Office, ESDO
Email: info@esdo.org, hridita@esdo.org
Phone: +8801726-053420
