Greece’s finance minister on Tuesday promised a reduced VAT rate for coffee and other beverages on super market shelves, but not for drinks served on countertops, following negative reactions from last week’s abruptly announced tax relief measures. The criticism lies in the fact that that coffees, soft drinks and juices would have remained at the expensive 24-percent rate.
Speaking on Tuesday morning on the Ant1 television station, FinMin Euclid Tsakalotos said new amendments will be tabled in Parliament to bring the retail rate for such items down to 13 percent.
The “Scandinavian level” 24 percent VAT rate was one of the more unpopular measures included in a “tax tsunami” legislated by the Tsipras government in 2017 to meet creditor-mandated annual fiscal targets.
At the same time, Tsakalotos denied that the measures – announced three weeks before the European Parliament election – were a campaign bonus.
