Agriculture Minister Henk Staghouwer (ChristenUnie) will investigate the introduction of a levy on meat. Other coalition parties have always been vehemently against a ‘meat tax’.
The ChristenUnie minister writes in a letter about food policy that the government has the option ‘also via price signals’ to ‘provide incentives for more sustainable and healthier choices, without restricting people’s freedom’.
The fact that Staghouwer has now announced that he wants to investigate a levy on meat is striking because there is no majority in the House of Representatives for a separate ‘meat tax’. D66, GroenLinks, Party for the Animals and Staghouwer’s own ChristenUnie see some benefit in it, but other parties have opposed the idea in the past.
VVD, CDA and PVV in particular have always been fanatical opponents, but parties such as SP and PvdA are also reluctant, because they believe that bacon and meatballs should not become a luxury food that only rich Dutch people can afford. There seems to be more support for taxing all food that is bad for the environment more heavily.
Yield for livestock farmers
Previously, research commissioned by the Ministry of Agriculture showed that a meat tax that specifically benefits organic farmers can be an effective means. The proceeds of such a levy should go to livestock farmers, who can use that money to make more sustainable, as the letter also describes.
In the coalition agreement, the cabinet already announced that it wants to levy extra tax on sugary drinks, and no longer levy VAT on fruit and vegetables. In this way, consumers can be encouraged to make affordable, healthier and more sustainable choices, says Staghouwer.
The cabinet also wants to lower the threshold for people to make healthy choices in the supermarket, ‘by, for example, setting a minimum percentage of sustainable and/or organic food on the shelves’.
Not cast in concrete
An evaluation of the policy of recent years shows that it is important to set concrete goals. Staghouwer mentions as an example the goal of having consumers eat 50 percent animal and 50 percent vegetable proteins (from vegetables, for example). Currently, that ratio is 60 percent animal, 40 percent vegetable. That goal is not set in stone, he emphasizes. “If developments or new insights mean that a sharpening or acceleration of the goal is necessary, this may lead to a reconsideration.”
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