Trade associations in the meat industry are against a tax on meat products and have therefore jointly written a letter to informer Mariëtte Hamer. They fear for the survival of hundreds of butchers because of 'unnecessarily heavy administrative burdens' that a meat tax would entail.
"We want to take further steps towards sustainability together with the minister, political parties and social parties, but only with resources that do work," said Jos Goebbels, chairman of the Central Organization for the Meat Sector (COV).
The letter to the informant was also signed by LTO Nederland, Producers Organization Pig Farming (POV), Nepluvi (Dutch Poultry Industry) and Koninklijke Nederlandse Slagers (KNS). In their view, a meat tax is 'ineffective, impracticable and sometimes even counterproductive'.
Hundreds of butchers on the road
The organizations cite a report from EY in which many bottlenecks are mentioned. "Research conducted by consultancy EY on behalf of the Minister of Agriculture shows that the environmental and animal welfare goals are not achieved with a meat tax. The opposite may even be the case. Moreover, the new, additional tax would become very complicated, difficult to enforce. and lead to an unnecessarily heavy administrative burden for SMEs, putting the survival of hundreds of butchers at risk."
According to the trade associations, politicians also want to 'use the meat tax to halve the livestock and to allow more people to switch to a vegetarian or vegan diet'. "Recent research by bureau 6T shows that a large majority of society is in favor of the preservation of farmers in the Netherlands and 95% of the Dutch eat regular meat. According to the same research, there is insufficient support for a meat tax," the organizations said in a statement. a press release.
Further steps needed for a sustainable future
The Dutch meat chain partners endorse the social importance of further sustainability. "Various initiatives have already been launched in the meat sectors to this end, such as the Action Plan for Vitalization of Pig Farming and the Implementation Agenda for the Sustainable Poultry Sector," according to the organizations. "Further steps are necessary for a sustainable future. The Dutch meat sector therefore supports the ambitions of the European Green Deal and the European Farm-to-Fork strategy."
The PvdD, Groen Links, D'66 and the ChristenUnie are in favor of introducing a tax on meat. The Food Transition Coalition brought the tax recently also to the attention of the informant. That's right for a meat tax.
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