The Swedish government has proposed a temporary reduction of VAT on most food products and bottled water, cutting it from 12% down to 6%.

📅 Planned period: April 1, 2026 – December 31, 2027

The idea is to ease cost-of-living pressure as food prices remain high.

This made me wonder about Finland 🇫🇮

• Do you think a similar VAT cut would actually lower grocery prices here?

• Or would retailers just absorb it without passing savings to consumers?

• Has Finland ever seriously discussed a temporary food VAT reduction?

Curious to hear thoughts, especially from people working in retail, economics, or policy.



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Shariful125

7 comments

  1. No, because we can then order non-perishable groceries from Sweden by post, and can also cross the land border in the North or take s ferry.

    So no probs.

    It wouldn’t be anything new.

  2. Use more emojis and I’ll consider responding to this

  3. I think there isn’t a comparable cost of living crisis in Finland. Especially the housing market in Finland, and including the big cities, is very forgiving by European standards.

  4. they done this before with no real effect… prices will be a bit lower for a week and then sucked back up by the S and K. why things are fucked here is because of the duopoly.

  5. Yes, absolutely. VAT is a regressive tax and way too high.

  6. No. How does Denmark get away with FULL tax on groceries? They have 25% on restaurants, everything.

  7. The European king 👑, Germany 🇩🇪even, (From 19% to 7%)

    As of January 1, 2026, Germany has implemented a permanent 7% reduced VAT (Value Added Tax) rate on food served in restaurants and catering, matching the rate for groceries.This replaces the previous 19% rate for dine-in meals, aligning with the 7% rate applied to takeout/takeaway.

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