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FDP against VAT relief for food

2022-04-22T12:14:47.609Z


FDP against VAT relief for food Created: 04/22/2022Updated: 04/22/2022 14:07 Fruit and vegetable varieties in a Berlin supermarket. © Wolfgang Kumm/dpa Should additional countermeasures be taken to mitigate price jumps for many foods? The Minister of Agriculture shows sympathy for a tax initiative - but the finance department reacts with reservations. Berlin - In the debate about rising food p


FDP against VAT relief for food

Created: 04/22/2022Updated: 04/22/2022 14:07

Fruit and vegetable varieties in a Berlin supermarket.

© Wolfgang Kumm/dpa

Should additional countermeasures be taken to mitigate price jumps for many foods?

The Minister of Agriculture shows sympathy for a tax initiative - but the finance department reacts with reservations.

Berlin - In the debate about rising food prices, the co-governing FDP rejects a VAT exemption for certain products.

The parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr told the "Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung".

"Unfortunately, the reduction in VAT is not a targeted measure to relieve people with low incomes."

When asked, the FDP-led Federal Ministry of Finance merely referred to a billion-euro package with other relief that had already been announced.

Social and consumer organizations had called on the government to use new EU rules and set VAT to zero percent for food such as fruit and vegetables.

Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir (Greens) supported the demands: "If we make fruit and vegetables cheaper, we not only relieve consumers comparatively cheaply, but also promote healthy nutrition through the steering effect gained." Özdemir also referred to the responsibility of the finance department.

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Support came from the Left Party.

Group leader Dietmar Bartsch told the "Tagesspiegel": "The temporary suspension of VAT on staple foods is a measure that would work quickly, something like that is needed now." The coalition's announced second relief package is not enough.

The FDP politician Dürr, on the other hand, emphasized that both packages contained measures for families and households that had a particularly difficult time.

"It definitely makes more sense than a patchwork quilt for VAT."

The standard rate is 19 percent.

The reduced rate of 7 percent subsidizes products that serve the common good - including staples such as milk, meat, fruit, vegetables and baked goods.

The General Secretary of the German Farmers' Association, Bernhard Krüsken, said: "Ideally, all food should be subject to the reduced tax rate." However, it is just as important to finally solve the "blockade" in a financing system for the conversion of animal husbandry.

The traffic light coalition is discussing a model so that farmers are not left with additional costs for higher standards.

According to the recommendations of a commission of experts, an animal welfare tax on animal products is under discussion.

A surcharge of 40 cents per kilogram of meat would be conceivable.

dpa

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-04-22

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