(CNN)What"s cheaper: repairing your shoes or buying new ones?
With the cost of hand labor versus mass-produced fashion, often it"s the latter.
Sweden is hoping to change this with plans to grant tax breaks for repairs to footwear, clothes, leather goods, household textiles and bicycles -- giving people a financial incentive to make do and mend.
The value added tax (VAT) on getting these items fixed will be slashed from 25% to 12%, according to the plan, which was presented Tuesday to the Parliament in the government"s new budget.
Economic incentive
A second proposal will allow Swedes to claim back from their income tax up to half of the labor costs of fixing home appliances -- such as washing machines, fridges and stoves.
It won"t come cheap, with the government estimating the plans will cost them $86.4 million (SEK 740m) in tax revenue.
If companies don"t decrease the chemicals, a fee of $2.34 (20 SEK) will be applied to smaller items such as mobile phones and up to $23.36 (200 SEK) for larger objects like televisions.
The plans have been met with strong objections from electronics companies, who believe they are unsafe and will harm the Swedish manufacturing industry.
"The flame retardants are an integral part in the materials they protect," said industry body Digital Europe in a statement.
"Neither KEMI nor the investigator has provided any scientific references to support their emission concerns. In fact, exposure to certain flame retardants is extremely low, hardly detectable for new products and according to the studies ... does not pose a risk to the user, adults or children."
Bolund is confident the measures will pass.
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/20/europe/sweden-money-for-repairs-trnd/index.html
No comments:
Post a Comment