It came up today as a topic via ARD (public German TV, Channel One). The German government is actively discussing the idea of a special tax on cheese, milk, meat and eggs.
Purpose?
Well, the government is admitting that all the new regulations coming down on farmers....is hurting to a significant extent. So, they'd like to help the farmers with government distribution money.....cover the regulation cost.
What's the tax to be called? A consumption tax. Yeah.....it does beg some questions.
The amount? Right now....they are discussing 40 Euro centers per kilogram for meat. The Milk tax would be two cents per kilogram. Same for eggs. And cheese would be around 15 cents per kilogram.
Please note....the cheese side of this....covers milk powder and butter as well.
How much does this add up? Well....the government will simply hint billions (meaning upwards and past two billion generated).
Nowhere in the discussion....does anyone explain how the money generated....would go fairly back to the farmer himself. Maybe there is some massive paperwork drill where you'd track every single egg your farm generated, and documented all 188,743 eggs that you sold this year.
If this were Dutch cheese or Italian cheese? It apparently wouldn't matter.....but they wouldn't get their chunk of the money. So you can anticipate that the EU court system will get involved, and bring some questions to the table.
How the farmers are handling the discussion? According to the journalists....they are fairly skeptical. I probably would be too. You could have some company over by the French border that handles French milk being sold in German grocery stores, and they wouldn't be easily fitting into this tax and cost deal.
The effect of this tax on the welfare class in Germany? It's best not to bring this up.....it would be harmful for them, and some idiot would have to figure a way to wiggle an extra 50 Euro a month into the hands of a four-member family....to off-set the consumption tax.
In the end, I suspect that the Dutch, the Poles, and the Swiss.....will all fight the tax deal, and get a free waiver from being taxed....meaning that German products go up, and the market will cripple German farmers more than anyone else.
Maybe it's just me....but I think the skepticism level of common Germans is about to go up a notch or two.
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