Vat on veterinary products and services will be reduced to 10%

Without any doubt we are living an advance in our country, late, but that arrives. On October 5, a very important step forward was taken for all those who wish to be part of an advanced state and defender of animal rights.

The plenary session of the Congress of Deputies has given the go-ahead this Wednesday to a proposal by Esquerra Republicana (ERC) that urges the Government to reduce the VAT on veterinary services and medicines from the current 21% to 10%.

The initiative has been approved with the support of most of the groups except those of Citizens, which has abstained, and PP that has voted against.

The deputy of ERC, Joan Capdevila, a veterinarian by profession, has defended that “it does not make sense from any point of view” that the VAT of services “as basic” as veterinarians was raised from 8 to 21% in 2012 and that this price increase can lead to a public health problem since many people have had to desist from resorting to the veterinarian due to the increase in costs.

He also added that half of Spanish families have a pet, and that “you can not record the possession of a dog or a cat as a luxury item because it is not and brings many social benefits.”

Esquerra’s proposal maintains that only in 2014 730 veterinary clinics were closed in Spain “for, among other reasons, the increase in veterinary VAT”.

At the same time, he adds that, in tax terms, the veterinary pet sector does not represent even 0.02 percent of the GDP of the Spanish State.

The parliamentary debate was attended by representatives of the General Council of Veterinary Colleges to support this initiative.

Source: Abogacia.es, El país, Europa Press.