Some 50 years after the introduction of value added tax, scientists involved in environmental protection demand a climate-friendly reform. "How about you raise the VAT rate on animal products to 19 percent and at the same time allow for a discount on plant foods?" asks a paper by the Öko-Institut, which is written as a letter to VAT. Thus, relatively climate-friendly food would be cheaper, more climate-damaging products more expensive.
Climate friendly
In Germany there is the normal VAT rate of 19 percent and a reduced rate of 7 percent, which applies to many foods, but also, for example, to books, wheelchairs and works of art.
Climate friendly
In Germany there is the normal VAT rate of 19 percent and a reduced rate of 7 percent, which applies to many foods, but also, for example, to books, wheelchairs and works of art.
For climate-friendly plant foods, the experts from the Öko-Institut, which often works under government mandate, want a reduced tax rate of only five percent. VAT was introduced in January 1968.
Source: Öko-Institut e.V.
Source: Öko-Institut e.V.