AlwaysFree: Italy May Postpone Imposing Tax On Virgin Plastics

Italy may postpone the proposed €450/ton ($531/ton) tax on virgin plastics from January 2021 to July, a local media reported. The report said that liberal political party Italia Viva requested the postponement during a meeting of the Council of Ministers on Sunday. The request was most likely due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which hurt economies across Europe. The delay, however, raised a question of whether companies need to pay the duty retroactively. So far, the Italian government had not given any official statement regarding the delay. The tax had already pushed back from the initial deadline on July 1, 2020. Italy, the UK, Spain, and Austria have planned to begin imposing taxes on plastics this year.