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Sweden to abolish tax on plastic bags

Sweden is set to scrap a tax on plastic bags, introduced by the former government to reduce the amount of plastic waste in nature, from January 1st.

Published: 12 April 2023 16:19 CEST

Sweden to abolish tax on plastic bags

Plastic bags have cost around 3 kronor extra since the tax was introduced in 2020. Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT

Public broadcaster SR was first to report the news that the tax will be scrapped in the right-wing government’s spring budget.

The far-right Sweden Democrats and conservative Moderates have been particularly against the tax, which was introduced in May 2020 and added an extra 3 kronor to the price of plastic shopping bags and an extra 30 öre to thin bags used for fruit and vegetables.

The tax ultimately led to many supermarkets raising the price of plastic carrier bags from around 3 kronor to 7 kronor.

The Moderates’ coalition partners, the Liberals and Christian Democrats, originally voted in favour of the tax, which was proposed by the Liberals, Social Democrats, Greens and Centre Party as part of the 2020 January deal between the four parties at the time.

But just a year later, the Liberals described the tax as “a failure”, arguing that it should instead be aimed at fossil resources.

According to a study carried out by SMED, an agency collecting data on Sweden’s environmental emissions, on behalf of the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, 83 percent fewer plastic bags were sold per krona of supermarket profit after the tax was introduced.

The number of paper bags sold increased substantially over the same period.

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'Very little debate' on consequences of Sweden's crime and migration clampdown

The Liberties Rule of Law report shows Sweden backsliding across more areas than any other of the 19 European Union member states monitored, fuelling concerns that the country risks breaching its international human rights obligations, the report says.

“We’ve seen this regression in other countries for a number of years, such as Poland and Hungary, but now we see it also in countries like Sweden,” says John Stauffer, legal director of the human rights organisation Civil Rights Defenders, which co-authored the Swedish section of the report.

The report, compiled by independent civil liberties groups, examines six common challenges facing European Union member states.

Sweden is shown to be regressing in five of these areas: the justice system, media environment, checks and balances, enabling framework for civil society and systemic human rights issues.

The only area where Sweden has not regressed since 2022 is in its anti-corruption framework, where there has been no movement in either a positive or negative direction.

Source: Liberties Rule of Law report

As politicians scramble to combat an escalation in gang crime, laws are being rushed through with too little consideration for basic rights, according to Civil Rights Defenders.

Stauffer cites Sweden’s new stop-and-search zones as a case in point. From April 25th, police in Sweden can temporarily declare any area a “security zone” if there is deemed to be a risk of shootings or explosive attacks stemming from gang conflicts.

Once an area has received this designation, police will be able to search people and cars in the area without any concrete suspicion.

“This is definitely a piece of legislation where we see that it’s problematic from a human rights perspective,” says Stauffer, adding that it “will result in ethnic profiling and discrimination”.

Civil Rights Defenders sought to prevent the new law and will try to challenge it in the courts once it comes into force, Stauffer tells The Local in an interview for the Sweden in Focus Extra podcast.

He also notes that victims of racial discrimination at the hands of the Swedish authorities had very little chance of getting a fair hearing as actions by the police or judiciary are “not even covered by the Discrimination Act”.

READ ALSO: ‘Civil rights groups in Sweden can fight this government’s repressive proposals’

Stauffer also expresses concerns that an ongoing migration clampdown risks splitting Sweden into a sort of A and B team, where “the government limits access to rights based on your legal basis for being in the country”.

The report says the government’s migration policies take a “divisive ‘us vs them’ approach, which threatens to increase rather than reduce existing social inequalities and exclude certain groups from becoming part of society”.

Proposals such as the introduction of a requirement for civil servants to report undocumented migrants to the authorities would increase societal mistrust and ultimately weaken the rule of law in Sweden, the report says.

The lack of opposition to the kind of surveillance measures that might previously have sparked an outcry is a major concern, says Stauffer.

Politicians’ consistent depiction of Sweden as a country in crisis “affects the public and creates support for these harsh measures”, says Stauffer. “And there is very little talk and debate about the negative consequences.”

Hear John Stauffer from Civil Rights Defender discuss the Liberties Rule of Law report in the The Local’s Sweden in Focus Extra podcast for Membership+ subscribers.

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