Demand from associations: Food soon without VAT?

Several associations are calling for the abolition of VAT for staple foods such as fruit and vegetables. The federal government must use this opportunity to relieve households with low incomes in particular.

The president of the farmers’ association expects food prices to continue to rise. Joachim Rukwied said in the common morning magazine from ARD and ZDF, fertilizer prices have quadrupled. Energy costs have gone through the roof. In order to be able to produce at all, it is not possible without higher prices for consumers.

VdK for “zero percent” VAT

However, as the social association VdK warns, more and more people are reaching their financial limits. VdK President Verena Bentele said that low earners, pensioners and people on basic security no longer knew how to pay for groceries or electricity bills.

For staple foods, she is therefore calling for a reduction in VAT to “zero percent”, i.e. the de facto abolition of VAT. “The federal government must fully exploit this opportunity, which is now available to all EU member states,” said Bentele.

More demands for relief

The Federal Association of Consumers also wants this – especially for fruit, vegetables and legumes. In this way, rising food prices can be cushioned and households with low incomes in particular can be helped. At the same time, this serves to promote healthy nutrition and more sustainable production.

Similar demands come from the German Diabetes Society (DDG). “A healthy diet shouldn’t be a question of money,” said DDG Managing Director Barbara Bitzer. The federal government must now use the new legal leeway and abolish VAT for vegetables and fruit. In return, she demanded that “the manufacturers of sugar-coated drinks” be asked to pay.

New leeway through EU directive

Two weeks ago, a change to the so-called EU Value Added Tax System Directive came into force largely unnoticed. In the directive, the EU states have set common requirements for value added tax. The regular tax rate must therefore be at least 15 percent, and the reduced rate must be at least five percent. Complete tax exemptions are only possible in certain areas, since the change now also for food.