BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – In the debate about an end to constant price wars for food, the environmental organization Greenpeace is campaigning for higher VAT on animal products. “The new federal government should adjust the value added tax for meat and dairy products to the regular rate of 19 percent”, agricultural expert Matthias Lambrecht told the newspapers of the Funke media group (Thursday). “In return, it can lower the VAT on fruit and vegetables or eliminate it entirely.” The co-governing FDP promptly objected to this. Clarifications are pending in the New Year about financing more animal welfare in the stables, including surcharges in the supermarket.
Lambrecht explained that such changes in VAT would relieve consumers and provide incentives for more environmentally friendly and climate-friendly consumption of plants Food created. At the same time, farms needed targeted support for better animal husbandry. Those consumers who buy meat and dairy products should pay for this through a tax or levy. It is not about telling people what they should eat, but simply about enforcing the polluter pays principle Wanting to achieve animal welfare and climate protection is window dressing. ” It does not serve as a “steering tax for the re-education of the citizens”, and an increase in certain products would make the already complicated system even more incomprehensible. In addition, there is a great risk that money from additional tax revenues will not reach farmers in the stable in a targeted manner.
The debate about extremely cheap prices, especially for meat, flared up again at the turn of the year. The new Federal Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir (Greens) took up this aspect and stressed that there should be “no more junk prices” for food that would ruin farms and prevent more animal welfare. The former minister Julia Klöckner (CDU) had also repeatedly warned that meat should not be “junk goods” and promoted more appreciation.
There are models on the table from a feasibility study for the ministry, such as one Financing could look like this so that farmers are not left with the additional costs of better stables. According to the report of a commissioned law firm, price surcharges are in principle legally possible for consumers – a strict earmarking of the income only for German animal keepers would be problematic a full 19 percent for animal products or for all foods. An expert commission from the ministry had favored an “animal welfare tax” – with conceivable surcharges of 40 cents per kilogram of meat and sausage, 2 cents per kilo for milk and dairy products, and 15 cents per kilo for cheese and butter. It could be implemented as a consumption tax. According to the feasibility study, this would also be a viable option, for example already with excise taxes on coffee.
There is no specific definition in the coalition agreement between the SPD, Greens and FDP. A “system supported by market participants” is to be developed in order to use the income to promote running costs and investments for a specific purpose without “burdening the trade with bureaucratic burdens”. FDP expert Hocker emphasized that a “real animal welfare offensive” was needed with the rapid introduction of the agreed, binding and transparent animal welfare label. “Consumers at the shop counter can take responsibility themselves.” would than the already reduced 7 percent. A commission on the future of agriculture set up by the Federal Cabinet also named a VAT reduction to promote fruit and vegetables as an option for financial incentives ./sam/als/DP/stw
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