Estonia: Parliament rejects slashing VAT on food to 9%

The Estonian parliament, the Riigikogu, has rejected the opposition Estonian Centre Party’s (Keskerakond) proposal to lower the VAT on basic food products to 9%, ERR reports. No MPs voted against the proposal, but 42 MPs, mostly from the ruling coalition, abstained. Under the proposal, the VAT on specific categories of food, including vegetables and dairy, fish, grain, and meat products, would have been cut from the standard rate of 24% to 9%. Earlier, a record 98,580 people signed a public initiative to cut the VAT on food products to 10%.