A green tax bill is being prepared which levies environmental taxes on industries to help cut healthcare costs, head of the Department of Environment was quoted as saying by IRNA.
Masoumeh Ebtekar made the statement last week and pointed to the fact that petroleum products are the main sources of green taxes in the world “as industries must pay tax in proportion to the amount of pollution they produce.”
She said heavy packages and plastic products are also taxed across the world; therefore, the government is preparing a bill in which green taxes will be levied on such products.
“A green economy is a priority of the Rouhani administration, and the Cabinet is cooperating with the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance to meet its goals,” Ebtekar said.
Stressing the need for decent economic growth rates, Ebtekar, who doubles as a vice president, noted that taxes must be levied on industrial activities which harm the environment and put public health at risk.
“So the approval of the green tax bill will not only help generate income for health and environment sectors, but also encourage industrial plants to pay more attention to the environmental impact of their activities,” she added.
All large industrial projects are legally bound to pay environmental taxes, while the green tax bill aims to impose levies on medium-scale projects.
Ebtekar noted that city officials across the country have begun imposing green taxes on medium-size enterprises because “they have seen the benefits.”
The vice president warned against viewing the bill as a “stopgap measure” and urged businesses to cooperate, since the levies can and will lead to a clean environment and substantially reduce healthcare costs.
The phrase “green taxes” is commonly used to refer to a package of government measures intended to encourage expansion of low-carbon power, subsidize home insulation and tackle fuel poverty. The measures are paid for via levies on consumer energy bills.
