As of: February 15, 2024, 6:13 p.m
By: Julia Hanigk, Anna-Lena Kiegerl
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Federal Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir (Greens) is calling for a tax on meat and meat products.
This should enable better animal husbandry.
Concrete numbers are already in the room.
Kassel – Sausage and meat could soon become significantly more expensive.
At least according to the plans of the Green Party politician Cem Özdemir.
This emerges from a draft concept from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, which he leads, which is available to the
German Press Agency (dpa)
.
Accordingly, Özdemir is demanding a so-called “animal welfare cent”.
Tax on meat and meat products?
The exact amount of the additional taxes is still unclear
The idea is not new: Back in 2020, a commission led by then Agriculture Minister Jochen Borchert (CDU) proposed a tax on animal products in supermarkets.
As a guide, this commission proposed a price of 40 cents in additional taxes per kilogram of meat or meat product.
This amount was determined because the financing requirement for conversion measures to improve animal husbandry will increase to 3.6 billion euros per year by 2040.
If an animal welfare cent comes along, you'll soon have to dig a lot deeper into your pockets for meat.
© Imago/Thomas Trutschel
In response to the recent farmers' protests, Cem Özdemir has now brought the proposal for an “animal welfare cent” back onto the political agenda.
Since the tax breaks for agricultural diesel are no longer available, Özdemir wants to use the “animal welfare cent” to give farmers more planning security for the upcoming conversion measures due to animal husbandry regulations.
In the Ministry of Agriculture's new concept, which was created at the request of the traffic light groups, no amount of the tax now planned has been set.
This must be decided politically.
However, it should be a national consumption tax, similar to the coffee tax.
The income from the tax should flow into the federal budget, Özdemir said in the paper.
The FDP and the farmers' association criticize the new meat tax
However, the FDP, which, as the owner of the Ministry of Finance, is responsible for tax matters, has so far rejected a tax increase on meat products.
“Cem Özdemir’s proposal ignores the actual needs of farmers,” said FDP parliamentary group vice-president Christoph Meyer.
“The proposal would not help agriculture either, because the tax revenue would go to the federal budget without being tied to its use,” it said.
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Union parliamentary group vice-president Steffen Bilger added that the paper was a “transparent maneuver” that was intended to distract attention from Özdemir’s “failure” when it came to agricultural diesel.
“A new meat tax to cushion additional costs caused by stable conversions does not compensate for the burden on agriculture caused by the coalition's decision to phase out agricultural diesel,” it said.
The general secretary of the German Farmers' Association, Bernhard Krüsken, agrees: “An animal welfare tax is not suitable as a 'replacement' for agricultural diesel, but would be another lopsided compromise.
Above all, agriculture now needs solutions that relieve the burden on all businesses.” It is also unclear how the income from the tax will go to the farmers.
“It is completely unclear how it can be ensured that the money ultimately reaches the farmer - but this must be the purpose of an animal welfare tax,” says Krüsken.
However, the farmers' association spoke to the Funke newspapers overall in favor of the “animal welfare cent”, but is calling for the amount of the levy to be recalculated due to high inflation.
Animal Welfare Association welcomes the proposals for the “Animal Welfare Cent”
The President of the German Animal Welfare Association, Thomas Schröder, however, commented positively on the proposal: “Something is finally moving.
We have been calling for a meat levy for a long time.”
He is referring to the plans that were made under Agriculture Minister Borchert, i.e. the 40 cents per kilogram of meat.
“If you eat meat, the animal must be worth an additional four cents per 100 grams of meat.
Anyone who speaks out against it doesn’t care about the animals,” said Schröder.
(kal/jh with dpa)