About sixty business leaders, including many start-ups, propose “to apply a reduced VAT rate to environmentally responsible products in order to relieve the portfolio of households”, in a column published in the Journal du Dimanche (JDD).
“We, business leaders, suggest to parliamentarians and the Ministry of Economy and Finance to look into a solution capable of acting” on purchasing power, business support, and the transition ecological: “the green VAT”, they write.
Among the signatories from many startups gravitating in tech or sustainability are the heads of the Mouvement Impact France, Camif, Backmarket, BlablaCar, Yuka, Le Fourgon, Vestiaire Collective and Biocoop.
“It is no longer possible to submit to the same tax rules the companies which aggravate the environmental crisis and those which do everything to provide solutions. We also believe that it is urgent to encourage citizens to collectively turn to virtuous goods and services by making them identifiable and accessible to all,” they write.
“Given the urgency, we are calling for this measure to be adopted as soon as the finance bill for 2023 and to be the subject of new negotiations at European level”, ask the leaders in this forum.
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They believe that “if a modulation of VAT were to be rejected by the government due to legal or budgetary constraints, it is essential that we introduce new tax rules directly linked to the commitments of companies as soon as possible”.
“A modulation of 10% to 5.5% could also be put in place depending on the company’s social commitments inherent in the design of the product or service”, they propose, before committing “to this reduction in VAT does not lead to an increase in margins for our companies, but concrete social repercussions”.