The new VAT on unhealthy food

There are those who argue that the increase in VAT on “unhealthy” foods has a tax-collection effort (suggesting a reduction in VAT on healthy foods) and those who argue that this measure will help fight the obesity problem that exists in Spain.

However, Leaving aside all the political conflicts and debates surrounding the VAT increase, we are going to explain what the current rate of unhealthy food is and the problems surrounding obesity (and that you probably don’t know).

Let us remember that Spain is the second country in Europe with the most cases of obesity.

Current rate of unhealthy foods

As a general rule, when you buy a food you do it by paying a VAT of 10%. However, the case of basic necessities is different.

In this case, a super-reduced VAT of 4% is paid, and that is applied to products such as bread, bread flour, milk, cheeses, eggs, fruits, vegetables, vegetables, legumes, tubers or cereals, among others. staple foods.

And, following the proposal at the beginning of the year, the VAT on unhealthy products is 21%.

Now, what is meant by unhealthy food? In the programmatic agreement document approved by the PSOE and Podemos, there is talk of “junk food” and “ultra-processed”, Establishing a colored traffic light that indicates the quality of this product.

This traffic light, for its part, is the one offered by Nutri-Score, which includes the products in 5 categories from “A” to “E”, the latter being the worst of all the ratings.

Finally, we point out that the proposal of Catalonia, approved with 76 votes in favor, with 3 against and 54 abstentions, consisted, not only in applying a VAT of 21% to unhealthy foods, but also lowering the VAT of healthy foods until the 4% (super-reduced VAT).

Obesity problem in Spain

Leaving aside the VAT that a consumer pays to buy a food, we highlight that 3 out of 10 Spaniards suffer from overweight or obesity, so this is a problem that is the order of the day in our country.

Now, what is understood by obesity or overweight? The WHO (World Health Organization) defines it as an abnormal or excessive accumulation of fat that can be harmful to health.

To calculate it, you just have to look at your body mass index (BMI), which is calculated by dividing a person’s weight (in kilograms) by the square of their height in meters. And, if the result of this formula is equal to or greater than 25, it will be considered overweight, while a result greater than 30 would be obese.

And why is knowing your muscle mass index so important? The main reason is prevention against the many diseases caused by obesity or overweight, among which the following stand out:

• Coronary heart disease
• Diabetes type 2
• Cancer (endometrial, breast and colon)
• Hypertension
• Dyslipidemia
• Stroke
• Liver and gallbladder disease
• Sleep apnea or breathing problems
• Osteoarthritis
• Gynecological problems

We hope that this information may be relevant to you, beyond the VAT that is currently being applied to healthy or unhealthy products.

Remember that you can find more current news on our blog, helping you to interpret food labeling, or knowing more about the illnesses related to poor diet…