August 08, 2019
German legislators have proposed raising the sales tax on meat from seven percent to 19 percent to fight climate change and improve animal welfare.
Research has shown that greenhouse gas emissions from livestock account for a higher percentage of total global emissions than the world’s 1.2 billion automobiles, a fact underscored by some German Greens who are pushing for higher meat taxes.
United Nations report from 2012 found that the earth’s cattle population generates more carbon dioxide than automobiles, planes, and all other forms of transport combined. Moreover, the cow pies they deposit and the wind they break produce a third of the world’s methane emissions, considered 20 times more detrimental to the environment.
According to Germany’s Federal Statistics Office, slaughterhouses in Germany killed 29.4 million pigs, cows, sheep, goats and horses during the first six months of 2019. During this period, Germany produced 3.9 million tons of meat, led by pork, the primary ingredient in German sausages.
"I favor abolishing the VAT reduction for meat and using it (the increased revenues) instead for more animal welfare,†said Greens agriculture spokesman, Friedrich Ostendorff.
The idea of raising meat taxes would be to reduce livestock numbers — as well as their gaseous output — by discouraging people from eating meat.
Last June, Germany’s Green party vowed to ban industrial farming to reduce global warming if it ever were to come to power.
The measure was proposed by Katrin Goering-Eckardt, the party’s leader in the Germany parliament, as part of a massive €100 billion project to finance climate initiatives.
Even prior to this, in 2013, the Green party had sought to launch a weekly, meatless "veggie day,†a project that reportedly failed to garner much support from ordinary citizens.
I should hope not!
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
02:42 PM
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What a bunch of dummkopfs!
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at August 09, 2019 07:50 AM (9PLA2)
Conservatives would say "Hmmmm... maybe I'd do better to eat less meat" and go ahead and do so, without making a big fuss about it.
Speaking of sausages, last night we pigged out (pun intended) on some nice Johnsonville Cheese-and-Bacon brats, cooked in a skillet in Guinness stout, accompanied by a Greek salad and washed down with a nice cab. I just checked the wastebasket but can't find enough of the brats package to learn if the brats were pork or beef. But wow, were they good. Used some horseradish mustard on some of them, Arizona Heat on others.
Posted by: Dana Mathewson at August 09, 2019 11:01 AM (h7EAg)
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at August 10, 2019 05:56 AM (wSGj2)
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