Status: 07.01.2023 1:40 p.m
Agriculture Minister Özdemir wants healthy food to become cheaper. He therefore intends to “zero” VAT on fruit and vegetables. Social organizations and consumer advocates support the proposal.
At the end of the year, the Spanish government temporarily suspended VAT on staple foods such as fruit, vegetables, bread and milk. According to Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir, Germany should follow suit in order to relieve consumers.
He has “great sympathy for setting VAT on fruit, vegetables and legumes to zero,” he told the newspapers of the Funke media group. “That would also send out a signal that healthy eating is cheaper.” Good nutrition should not fail because of the wallet. However, the Federal Ministry of Finance said that there were no plans to change anything in the current system, as the newspapers write.
Özdemir fears high price levels
Özdemir therefore continues to expect persistently high energy prices. “The forecasts assume a falling inflation rate, albeit still at a level that is too high. We must therefore continue to adjust to high food prices.”
The federal government opted for indirect relief. “The price brakes for gas and electricity also help butchers and bakeries to keep prices stable,” said Özdemir.
“Very effective and can be implemented at short notice”
Özdemir received approval from the social association VdK. “In view of the current inflation rate of 8.6 percent, the federal government should no longer hesitate and should take Spain as a model,” said President Verena Bentele, also of the Funke media group. A corresponding law is also “overdue” for Germany. “The abolition of VAT on fresh fruit and vegetables and legumes would help everyone, but disproportionately those with small pensions and low earners,” added the president of the social association.
The Federation of German Consumer Organizations (vzbv) is also pushing for the abolition of VAT for healthy foods. “Healthy and sustainable nutrition shouldn’t be a question of money,” said vzbv food expert Christiane Seidel. The abolition of VAT on healthy food could “make at least a small contribution to relief and provide an incentive for healthier and more sustainable nutrition,” says Seidel. She called the instrument “very effective and can be implemented in the short term”.
Farmers’ association against different tax rates
The German Diabetes Society (DDG) also supported the proposal. In the Funke newspaper, DDG Managing Director Barbara Bitzer calls for “complete exemption from VAT for healthy foods such as fruit and vegetables and, in return, a manufacturer’s levy on sweetened soft drinks”.
The German Farmers’ Association wants to suspend VAT for all food. “But we reject different tax rates in order to control corresponding consumption habits,” said Farmers’ President Joachim Rukwied of the KNA news agency.