The Swedish government has proposed a temporary reduction of VAT on most food products and bottled water, cutting it from 12% down to 6%.
📅 Planned period: April 1, 2026 – December 31, 2027
The idea is to ease cost-of-living pressure as food prices remain high.
This made me wonder about Finland 🇫🇮
• Do you think a similar VAT cut would actually lower grocery prices here?
• Or would retailers just absorb it without passing savings to consumers?
• Has Finland ever seriously discussed a temporary food VAT reduction?
Curious to hear thoughts, especially from people working in retail, economics, or policy.
https://marosavat.com/vat-news/temporary-vat-reduction-on-food-in-sweden
Posted by Shariful125
22 Comments
No, because we can then order non-perishable groceries from Sweden by post, and can also cross the land border in the North or take s ferry.
So no probs.
It wouldn’t be anything new.
Use more emojis and I’ll consider responding to this
I think there isn’t a comparable cost of living crisis in Finland. Especially the housing market in Finland, and including the big cities, is very forgiving by European standards.
they done this before with no real effect… prices will be a bit lower for a week and then sucked back up by the S and K. why things are fucked here is because of the duopoly.
Yes, absolutely. VAT is a regressive tax and way too high.
No. How does Denmark get away with FULL tax on groceries? They have 25% on restaurants, everything.
The European king 👑, Germany 🇩🇪even, (From 19% to 7%)
As of January 1, 2026, Germany has implemented a permanent 7% reduced VAT (Value Added Tax) rate on food served in restaurants and catering, matching the rate for groceries.This replaces the previous 19% rate for dine-in meals, aligning with the 7% rate applied to takeout/takeaway.
VAT is regressive and affects lowest incomes the most. Therefore at least VAT on food should get reduced drastically or ideally completely eliminated.
This would leave over money in the pockets of poor people, who can spend more, thus boosting the economy.
Of course with the caveat of having an oversight commission due to the duopoly of supermarkets in Finland.
Arguments i e heard ablut this in Norway that VAT goes down and price up instead and the stores get the profit from the VAT change instead of the consumer
Lets tax some more, that’s the proper Finnish way to do it! /s
All tax is bad. It should all go down to 0%
I am pro tax cuts but let’s be real. Barber VAT tax cut did not bring prices down.
We should instead cut salary taxes like 1/3 from workers who earn above 28keur/year.
Absolutely. The expected amount of increase in income was based on no change in purchasing habits. What happened was that people bought less, changed to cheaper products and spent less elsewhere in the economy.
Prices in stores would not go down.
We probably should, but the rights and far rights are in charge now, so we probably won’t.
They might do some more trickle down economics though.
Taxes overall are too low. Budget deficit is too high and obviously we “need” to cut from education and healthcare. Really smart genius moves for the future.
No. The opposite should be done: VAT should be harmonised for all goods and services to the same general rate. (Which should be lower than 25.5 %, obviously.)
Lower VAT rates as a means of welfare is an absurdly blunt instrument. To make the food the poor buy cheaper we give much bigger discounts in euros to caviar, wagyū and Michelin dinners. The rich benefit more from lower food VAT than the poor do.
It is much more effective to simply give the poor money. It doesn’t matter how high the VAT is if the poor get more in welfare transfers funded by VAT than what they pay in VAT. VAT is progressive in that case. If raising food VAT raises monthly living expenses by €20, raise benefits by €20. Workers that don’t get benefits can be compensated by cutting lowest income taxes.
VAT also doubles as a form of corporate taxation. (See tax incidence of VAT.) Lower food VAT is a corporate subsidy to the S Group and Kesko. Lower food VAT also distorts other competition, making food-based products and services cheaper and more competitive than other types.
Reducing VAT is the typical Right Wing Modus Operandi to sneak in reduced taxes on the rich as well. The rich saves 5 EUR on his ox filet while the poor man saves 1 EUR on his porkchops.
If they really wanted to improve the lives of the less fortunate then they would grant them benefits instead, maybe based on income after rent.
There is VAT on food!?!? Even the US didn’t tax food!
Am In the only who thinks that groceries aren’t really that expensive Finland.
Like I only need about 200-300€ per month to survive on groceries and that is no bad food. I probably could “survive” on less than 200 but that wouldn’t be that healthy
This question will probably be considered and discussed during the next government (and one of the themes in the upcoming parliamentary elections). The current government believes that spending should be taxed instead of income so I don’t expect more VAT cuts during this government (they already lowered the VAT on food from 14% to 13.5%).
Lets just go full communism so everything is free!
https://preview.redd.it/3rr3p66j00fg1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=68e8cf1cb8b79e1561ea48d99c218353fc62ce0d