In an interview with the commercial broadcaster VTM, the Belgian Finance Minister Jan Jambon (Flemish nationalist) has said that he intends to take measures to make cross-border shopping less attractive for Belgians. Currently many people that live near to or in some case even a considerable distance from our country's borders visit neighbouring countries to do (some of their) shopping.
Finance Minister hopes to make it less tempting for Belgians to shop across the border
Published:
Mr Jambon suggests lowering duty on some products so that it is no longer worth the effort of crossing the border to make purchases at foreign supermarkets. Mr Jambon argues that lowering duty could actually result in a net increase in revenue raised.
Mr Jambon’s Adjunct-Spokesperson Ilse Coopman told VRT News that “There is a clear difference in the price of certain products between Belgium and just over the border. The Price Observatory’s reports are quite clear about this”.
It is a stated aim of the federal coalition agreement to make shopping in Belgium more attractive again. Mr Jambon says that he intends to take steps towards achieving this during the forthcoming budget talks. Mr Jambon says that Belgium is urgently in need of reforms. "The coalition agreement states that two-thirds of the efforts we make must come from reforms. My agenda is full and for the most part it contains reforms”.
“Very little room” for additional taxation
“Belgium is the most heavily taxed country in the entire OECD. So I think there is very limited scope for adding much more tax on top of that”, Mr Jambon said. However, the finance minister went on to say that the federal government “can do something on the revenue side” by reducing certain taxes, as this will serve to generate more revenue.
Mr Jambon cited the example of “border shoppers”. “Along the French border, there are many people that go just across the border to do their shopping, for example at Auchan. Excise duties are so high here that the products are cheaper there.”
“By reducing excise duties, you can increase revenue. It would be a win-win situation”, Mr Jambon’s spokesperson adds. “People's purchasing power would improve, while their money would be spent in our own shops.”
Cheaper shopping basket
The coalition agreement contains several measures designed to make a typical shopping basket cheaper and make cross-border shopping a less attractive proposition. These include the abolition of duty on tea, coffee and zero sugar soft drinks.
The packaging levy on reusable packaging will be scrapped and the packaging levy for bottled water reduced. This is also the case for all other products that are on average more expensive here than in neighbouring countries.
In addition to this the federal government intends to look into which other duties and levies can be reduced in order to discourage cross-border shopping.
One example is the level of duty on spirits that is higher here than in neighbouring countries. However, whether there is enough support among politicians to reduce duty on spirits remains to be seen.