VAT increase or animal welfare cent? Sham debate at the wrong time.
“This is a sham debate at the wrong time,” says Steffen Reiter, managing director of the Meat Industry Association (VDF), regarding the proposal for a tax increase on animal foods, which is currently being discussed with reference to the recommendation of the Agriculture Future Commission (ZKL). “Consumers can already decide today to buy meat from higher farming standards and thus support the conversion to greater animal welfare,” says Reiter. With the Animal Welfare Initiative, the meat industry has created a transparent system in which beef and pork are available in four different farming methods, from stable farming to organic meat, in all major food retail chains.
If further financing is required, the requirements must first be clarified and reliable framework conditions created for farmers. The ZKL corner paper also expressly emphasizes this. This particularly includes long-term contracts for farmers willing to convert.
“It cannot be the case that money is collected for the state treasury without first ensuring that it reaches the farmers one-to-one. Without this requirement and without the possibility of discrimination against production in Germany being ruled out, we reject these proposals,” emphasizes Reiter.
