prijava
SARAJEVO, June 15 (FENA) - The House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina unanimously adopted today the Bill on Amendments to the Law on Value Added Tax, proposed by the House of Representatives.
At the last session, the House of Representatives, following an emergency procedure, adopted the proposed law abolishing the payment of tax on donated food, which was jointly proposed by 15 MPs in that House.
In the explanation of the law, it is stated that a large number of companies in BiH, which are involved in the production or trade of food products, are discouraged from donating food in larger quantities since donating food creates an additional financial obligation to pay VAT. Because of this, large amounts of food are destroyed instead of providing a meal for vulnerable categories of the population.
The proposed law specifies that the Board of Directors of the Indirect Taxation Authority is obliged to pass a by-law for its implementation within 60 days from the date of entry into force of this law.
SDP MP in the House of Representatives, who is one of the proponents of this legal solution, Saša Magazinović, said that the law represents a human and not a political issue because food in the amount of 130 million KM is thrown away annually in BiH as VAT is also paid on donations to public soup kitchens.
"It means more than 700,000 meals per day are thrown away. From an economic point of view, any company that annually donates a million KM of food, and believe me many do so despite this, is "punished" with a tax of 170,000 KM on the food it donates," stated Magazinović.
He pointed out that the proponents of the law worked in full cooperation with the Indirect Taxation Authority of BiH, and this law fulfills the international obligation from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which foresees a 50 percent reduction in wasted food by 2030.
(FENA) A. B.
