Posted on 08/14/2019 1:42:34 PM PDT by Red Badger
Because the agricultural industry is considered both cruel to animals and a menace to the climate, some European nations most notably Germany are considering levying a so-called sin tax, similar to taxes on cigarettes and alcohol, on red meat. Proponents believe the tax will encourage more people to switch to poultry and plant-based proteins.
Environmentalists, animal-rights activists and climate hysterics have been pushing the idea for a few years, but now, at least in Western Europe, some governments are seriously considering taxing consumers for the privilege of purchasing red meat. A report by Fitch Solutions Macro Research, a European market research company, outlines the trend, which they say echoes another irrational taxation trend taxes on sugar and soft drinks.
The global rise of sugar taxes makes it easy to envisage a similar wave of regulatory measures targeting the meat industry, Fitch Solutions said, adding, It is highly unlikely that a tax would be implemented anytime soon in the United States or Brazil.
Advocates of such taxes say they will promote more healthy lifestyles, since some studies have linked eating too much red, particularly processed meat, to an increase in health problems such as heart disease and cancer. In addition, proponents hope to improve living conditions for livestock and cut down on CO2 emissions, which some believe is causing global warming.
German politicians from the Social Democrat (SPD) and Green parties are on record as being for a large increase in the Value Added Tax (VAT) on meat. Currently, meat and all foodstuffs in Germany are taxed at seven percent. Proponents of a new VAT are looking to nearly triple the tax on red meat.
I am in favor of abolishing the VAT reduction for meat and earmarking it for more animal welfare, said Friedrich Ostendorf, an agricultural policy spokesperson for the Greens.
SPD spokesman Rainer Speiging stated, A meat tax, such as increasing the VAT to 19%, could be a way forward.
A Funke Media Group poll suggests the German citizens back the measure, with 56.4% of those polled in favor. More than a third of those polled had a very positive opinion of the proposed tax increase. Eighty-two percent of Green Party members supported the measure.
The already-struggling German meat industry would be severely affected by the new tax. Production in the industry has already dropped by 5.2 percent in the past five years, with pork production dropping by 6.4 percent.
Despite the measures supposed popularity, Angela Merkels Christian Democrats and the current ruling coalition are adamantly opposed to any new taxes at this time. Opponents argue that consumers would be footing the bill, rather than the producers.
And thats exactly what the climate hysterics and animal-rights activists want. They want the price to be so high for meat that consumers will seek out other protein options. They want to social-engineer eating meat out of existence.
Meanwhile, across the English Channel, one university in Great Britain has decided to not sell any red meat on campus. Goldsmiths, University of London made the announcement on Monday. The no-meat policy is part of Goldsmiths push to be carbon neutral by 2025.
All of this nonsense comes in the wake of a new United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report released last week. The report calls for humanity to vastly decrease the amount of meat we eat in order to help forestall the ginned-up menace of anthropogenic climate change.
In mentioning that the people of the world should eat less meat, one of that studys lead authors, Hans-Otto Pörtner of the Alfred Wegener Center for Polar and Marine Research and the co-chair of IPCC Working Group 2, even suggested that the governments of the world should create appropriate incentives to that effect.
But Pörtner wasnt talking about the governments of the world giving out gold stars should you eat less meat. He was talking about exactly what is being considered in Germany onerous taxation on a food staple. Thats not an incentive. Its a punishment.
Commie control
Nothing was stated, but the price of beef rose dramatically during Hussein 0bama's regime.
I wonder what we’re going to do about it. Nothing, I assume. Maybe a few winces at the market when the empty beef/pork section is full of tofu.
Even Guardian commenters are upset about this, lol.
Dear Vegans,
I’m going to eat meat.
The only question is,
Where does the meat come from?
Choose wisely.
Sincerely,
Hungry.
If The Guardian is upset, then this is really SERIOUS!
Nowhere in Holy Scriptures or Holy Tradition is eating red meat considered a sin.
Yes, the Holy Orthodox Church has its presccribed fast seasons and days. But looking forward to going back to eating Meat is part of the practice of Orthodox fasting—at least for non-monastics.
And processed red meat is central to much of German and north-Slavic cuisine. You know, all those Wursts and Kielbasas!!
So save the sin taxes for tobacco and gambling, etc. PHOOEY to “sin” taxes on Meat!!!!
You don’t understand.
The Church of Global Warming has deemed the eating of Red Meat to be a sin.
If you eat Red Meat you are a heretic and a blasphemer!
You must be punished!
So sayeth the Prophet Algore, Piss be upon him............................
Red meat...
Whew, my chicken and pork and free range hippie meat supply is safe then....
The cause of the spike in beef prices was because of a drop in supply. Texas and Oklahoma has a pretty bad drought, so ranchers saw the price of hay go way up. So they started reducing the size of their herds which led to fewer cattle going to the slaughterhouses.
There was a huge price increase in all groceries when fuel was in the 4$/gallon range.
I am personally declaring war on meat.
I will eat as much of it as I can to save the other from the horrors of meat being on the planet.
Timothy I, 4:3, comes to mind.
If the wun had proclaimed that the price of beef had to skyrocket,just like the cost of electricity, the same fools would vote blindly for him all the same.
OK!! Everybody pay attention!
Lesson for today:
1. The sun is 1,300,000 times as big as the earth.
2. The sun is a giant nuclear furnace that controls the climates of all its planets.
3. The earth is one of the suns planets.
4. The earth is a speck in comparison to the size of the sun.
5. Inhabitants of the earth are less than specks.
Study Question: How do less-than-specks in congress plan to control the sun?
The Left, of course, is fully behind the idea of more tax money. Not that it would be used for anything that would have anything to do with red meat. Except maybe the creation of an agency or two that does nothing. The rest of the tax money would disappear.
Ah, no. They are too gristly and not much meat. But I guess that they would do in a pinch.
Haha!
Got news for you a-holes. We are not paying no friggin meat tax! Signed America
They do look kind of sinewy.
I can change up their diet though to make them more suitable. If they can change my diet, I can change their diet.
The vegan diet is unhealthy and leads to obesity and bad cholesterol and diabetes.
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