Bill passed to repeal prickly environmental tax

The National Assembly yesterday moved to repeal a $10 environmental tax on non-returnable containers of imported beverages as part of its obligations under a ruling by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) and Finance Minister Winston Jordan signalled that in excess of over $1 billion would be lost annually as a result.

The tax was implemented in 1996 as part of the Environ-mental Policy under the former government’s National Development Strategy. The policy outlined a clear and urgent need to protect the environment and towards this end the former government enacted the Environment Protec-tion Act