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VAT and agriculture: lessons from Europe

Author

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  • Sijbren Cnossen

    (CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis)

Abstract

Little has been written about the treatment of agriculture under the value added tax (VAT). This article attempts to fill the void by surveying and evaluating the situation in the Member States of the European Union (EU) and some other countries. Farmers are often exempted from VAT for administrative and political reasons. But this means that the VAT on their inputs cannot be ‘washed out’ through the tax deduction/credit mechanism. It then has to be borne by the farmers themselves or becomes an indeterminate and capricious element in consumer prices. To compensate farmers for the uncompensated VAT on inputs, the EU has devised a flat-rate scheme that permits them to charge a presumptive rate (approximately equal to the effective VAT rate on sector-wide inputs) on their sales to taxable agro-processing firms which, in turn, are permitted to take a deduction for this flat-rate addition from the VAT on their sales. Obviously, the flat-rate scheme is an arbitrary way of trying to achieve equal treatment between exempt and taxable farmers and between exempt farm products and other taxable goods and services. Full taxation, subject to the general threshold, appears to be the preferred choice.

Suggested Citation

  • Sijbren Cnossen, 2018. "VAT and agriculture: lessons from Europe," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 25(2), pages 519-551, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:itaxpf:v:25:y:2018:i:2:d:10.1007_s10797-017-9453-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s10797-017-9453-4
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Dora Benedek & Ruud A. De Mooij & Michael Keen & Philippe Wingender, 2015. "Estimating VAT Pass Through," CESifo Working Paper Series 5531, CESifo.
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    4. Sijbren Cnossen, 2015. "Mobilizing VAT revenues in African countries," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 22(6), pages 1077-1108, December.
    5. Bird,Richard & Gendron,Pierre-Pascal, 2011. "The VAT in Developing and Transitional Countries," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107401440, September.
    6. Institute for Fiscal Studies, 2011. "A retrospective evaluation of elements of the EU VAT system," Taxation Studies 0039, Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission.
    7. Luca Barbone & Richard Bird & Jaime Vázquez Caro, 2012. "The Costs of VAT: A Review of the Literature," CASE Network Reports 0106, CASE-Center for Social and Economic Research.
    8. Leon Bettendorf & Sijbren Cnossen, 2015. "The Long Shadow of the European VAT, Exemplified by the Dutch Experience," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 71(1), pages 118-139, March.
    9. Arnold Harberger, 1964. "Taxation, Resource Allocation, and Welfare," NBER Chapters, in: The Role of Direct and Indirect Taxes in the Federal Reserve System, pages 25-80, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    Cited by:

    1. Asatryan, Zareh & Gomtsyan, David, 2020. "The incidence of VAT evasion," ZEW Discussion Papers 20-027, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    2. Sijbren Cnossen, 2020. "Modernizing the European VAT," CESifo Working Paper Series 8279, CESifo.
    3. Kateřina Krzikallová & Filip Tošenovský, 2020. "Is the Value Added Tax System Sustainable? The Case of the Czech and Slovak Republics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-24, June.
    4. Sijbren Cnossen, 2022. "The C-inefficiency of the EU-VAT and what can be done about it," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 29(1), pages 215-236, February.
    5. Christou Anna & Eriotis Nikolaos & Lomis Ioannis & Papadakis Spyros & Thalassinos Eleftherios, 2021. "The Greek VAT Gap: The Influence of Individual Economic Sectors," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(4B), pages 851-882.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    VAT; Agriculture; European Union; Flat-rate compensation scheme; Reduced rates; Incidence;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H22 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Incidence
    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies

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