Waste management executive: Estonia planning new tax in the form of waste fee

TALLINN - Argo Luude, CEO of Estonian waste management company AS Eesti Keskkonnateenused, says it increasingly appears from the signals we get from the government that the biggest change to be brought about by the planned waste reform is once again a new tax -- in the form of a municipal waste fee.

Although waste management needs additional money, given all the new taxes and tax increases that are starting to seriously undermine people's livelihoods, this money needs to be found in the budgets of municipalities, Luude argues.

"According to the document of legislative intent for the waste reform, municipalities will have the opportunity to impose a waste fee as a local tax, which will likely be implemented as municipalities already are struggling with budget shortfalls," Luude said. "Considering the amounts the government intends to collect, it will definitely deliver a blow to people's already thin wallets. What's particularly unfortunate is that a significant portion of the collected new tax will again be used to hire significant numbers of people, thereby increasing the already large share of public sector employees."

"The government has promised that with the security tax, the so-called tax festival will come to and end, but now the government is going back on its words and comes up with a new tax," the executive noted.

He said that society needs time to "digest" the new taxes and their increases that have already been decided and, secondly, that the government is inflicting significant damage on its own credibility. Businesses need a stable tax environment and citizens need a stable quality of life to work, earn money and pay taxes.

"The government, which is talking about internal security, needs to understand that there is also a security risk if utility costs lead households to bankruptcy, the consequences of such situations can be unfathomable," Luude said.

He said the focus of the waste reform, or why it is being done, is disappearing. 

"The idea behind the waste reform is not, figuratively speaking, to fill the state coffers with waste, but to maintain the quality of Estonia's living environment and improve it where necessary," Luude said. "In the current situation, the waste tax is a very bad idea that should be forgotten for the time being."