In contrast to Germany: Spain eliminates VAT on groceries – prices fall
Created: 12/28/2022, 12:47 p.m
By: Ines Baur
In Spain, basic foods such as potatoes will soon become cheaper again.
The government is temporarily canceling VAT on staple foods (symbol image).
© Michael Reichel/dpa/Archive
Food prices are rising.
Spain's government wants to take countermeasures and relieve private households.
The plan: temporarily cancel VAT on staple foods.
Madrid/Munich – Groceries should become cheaper again.
For this reason, the Spanish government is lowering the already reduced VAT rate for staple foods, reports
Tagesschau.de
.
The measures are primarily tailored to needy families.
No more VAT on basic groceries in Spain
Value added tax on food such as bread, milk, cheese, fruit, vegetables and cereals is to be abolished for the next six months, said Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez (50) on Tuesday.
The VAT rate for oil and pasta should be reduced from ten to five percent.
For comparison: In Germany, there is also a reduced tax rate of seven percent for many staple foods.
Like bread, butter and milk.
If you don't drink cow's milk but soy milk, you pay an increased rate of 19 percent.
whimsical?
Quail eggs or fresh truffles should sound less like staple foods and more like luxury.
In VAT German, they are obviously part of the basic needs and are taxed at seven percent.
Demands for the abolition of VAT on staple foods in Germany as well
In view of the sharp rise in food prices, social and consumer associations in Germany were already calling for relief in the spring of the year by exempting certain products from VAT.
The social association VdK, the consumer centers and the German Diabetes Society demanded that the federal government take new EU legal options and set the tax rate to zero percent.
The Federal Environment Agency spoke of a general abolition of VAT for plant-based foods.
"A more plant-based diet relieves the environment and is also healthy," said President Dirk Messner of the German Press Agency.
Rising food prices - Eastern states hardest hit
Consumers in the eastern states of the European Union are hardest hit by the sharp rise in food prices.
As reported by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), food prices in Lithuania increased by 22.1 percent in April 2022 compared to the same month last year.
In Bulgaria it was 21.0 percent more, in Latvia 17.7 percent.
In Germany, the price increase in April was below the EU average at 8.5 percent.