Magazine: Cleanness taxed

Since the product fee act has been amended, from January 2015 a product fee is imposed in some new product categories. For instance in the case of soaps and detergents the fee is HUF11/kg, while for beauty and body care products it is HUF 57/kg. Manufacturers were surprised at the news of the new tax. István Murányi, general secretary of KOZMOS (the association of the Hungarian cosmetics, household cleaner, maintenance, detergent, personal hygiene and home care industries) told at several forums that the changes in the law hadn’t been preceded by any kind of harmonisation with representatives of the trade. One of the most debated elements of the so-called soap tax is that it has to be paid based on product weight and not on product ingredients. It is needless to say that the soap tax will make products more expensive – especially those in the lower-priced category. Packaging materials: the product fee is HUF 304/kg for commercial metal packaging; as for non-commercial packaging, the fee is HUF 57/kg for plastic and HUF 1,900/kg for plastic shopping bags, and it is HUF 19/kg for drink cartons and bottles; office products are also taxed with HUF 19/kg. Those small and micro-businesses which are officially listed as companies with an ‘artisan-profile’ and realise annual net sales below HUF 600,000 are exempt from paying the product fee. It caused a great uproar that even solar cells are taxed by the new version of the law: HUF 114/kg has to be paid for solar cells, which means a price increase of HUF 2,000-2,500 per module, according to the calculations of the Hungarian Solar Cell and Sun Collector Alliance (MNNSZ).