ASSESSMENT OF VALUE ADDED TAX REDUCTION POSSIBILITIES FOR SELECTED FOOD GROUPS IN LATVIA

Value-added taxes (VAT) are applied in the European Union (EU) Member States in accordance with Directive 2006/112/EC to limit distortions in competition in the common European market. Latvia is one of the five EU Member States where reduced VAT rates are not applied to food products, and the food is taxed at the standard rate of 21%. For this reason, food producer organisations discuss the introduction of a reduced VAT rate for selected fruits, berries, vegetables as well as potato grown in Latvia. The overall aim of the present research is to assess the effect of reduction of the VAT rate from 21 to 5% for selected food groups: fresh fruits, berries, vegetables and potato produced in Latvia. The research estimated a decrease in the price for the mentioned food groups, identified a potential increase in consumption and forecasted the effect of the VAT rate reduction on the amount of tax revenue collected by the central government. The research found that the reduction of the VAT rate from 21 to 5 % would result in a price decrease ranging from 1.9 to 3.5% for fruits, berries, vegetables and potato, the consumption of fresh fruits and berries would increase, on average, in the range of 1.2-2.3%, while the consumption of fresh vegetables would increase, on average, in the range of 1.2-2.1%, yet in a short-term the tax revenue paid to the government would decrease in the range of EUR 3.9-5.7 million. Nevertheless, in a medium-term, a significant positive effect on the producers of fruits, berries, vegetables and potato that operate legally in the agricultural industry could be expected, as the negative effect of the shadow economy decreases.