Since the new year, the government has reduced the VAT on food, which results in lower final prices of food on the shelves. Is it really like that in practice? Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Slovak Republic Richard Takáč published a video on the social network in which he went shopping and compared receipts for purchases in December 2024 and January 2025. You can find the VIDEO at the beginning of the article and PHOTOS of receipts in the gallery.
“Today we are going to do a control purchase and compare last year’s. We are going to look at buying the same items that we bought here in December, whether the reduced VAT was actually translated into food prices. Come watch it with me,” Takač said at the beginning of the video.
The minister made the first food purchase on December 19, 2024. He paid 74.90 euros for it. He repeated the purchase of the same food in the same store on January 3, 2025, while the resulting price per block was 70 euros. The VAT rate for all foodstuffs has decreased – from 20 percent to 19 percent and for basic foodstuffs from 10 percent to 5 percent. The purchased foods were not on sale.
“It’s black and white. Food has become cheaper. After the new year, we paid almost five euros less than last year for the same purchase.” added the minister immediately after the purchase.
