0% VAT for Healthy food in the EU

Last week, the European Parliament voted in favour of a proposal that makes it easier for member states to promote sustainable and healthy food habits by providing a zero percent VAT rate on healthy foods but also a penalty of a higher rate for products such as meat.

Sustainability lobbyist Jeroom Remmers is one of the pioneers behind the idea of ​​a ‘fair price’ for food.

Remmers mentioned in the newspaper: “Parliament wants to adοpt the proposal for the entire VAT system to be able to control food consumption via price. At the moment it is not possible in most Member States to set VAT for fruit and vegetables to zero. Before this plan becomes law, and Member States can move more freely with VAT rates, Parliament and the Member States will have to agree. With the vote in Parliament, that chance has increased considerably.”

European Commissioner Frans Timmermans has major agricultural reform plans until 2030. This so-called Farm to Fork strategy includes, among other things, that organic fruit and vegetables can be reduced to zero percent VAT as far as the European Commission is concerned.

Sources: Taxlive.nl / Volkskrant.nl