The Senate increases VAT on bottled water, after the scandal over industrial practices

The objective is to promote tap water after a scandal over the practices of mineral water manufacturers.

This is a measure intended to encourage consumers to favor tap water. The Senate voted, on the night of Wednesday November 27 to Thursday November 28, to increase VAT on bottled water, against a backdrop of scandal over the practices of mineral water manufacturers. The upper house voted by a show of hands for this measure in the draft budget for 2025, against the advice of the government.

“In a context where the question of natural resource management, corporate responsibility and ecological issues are really at the heart of the debates, it has become necessary to rethink this tax policy”launched the socialist Hervé Gillé, who assumes to defend this measure “in view of the concerns raised by the Nestlé Waters scandal”.

The amendment voted by the Senate, carried by Macronist senator Nadège Havet, proposes to eliminate the reduced VAT rate on water in plastic bottles, currently set at 5.5% and which would therefore increase to 20%. While preserving bottled water sold overseas from this measure. Senators estimated that the measure could bring in between 150 and 300 million euros per year. The Minister of Public Accounts, Laurent Saint-Martin, opposed it, arguing that VAT was not “not a tax incentive tool”.

The subsidiary of the Swiss agri-food giant admitted in January to having used prohibited disinfection systems to maintain the “food safety” of its mineral waters. Revelations, relayed by the press, which shined the spotlight on the practices of manufacturers in the sector, leading in particular the Senate to launch a commission of inquiry on the subject at the beginning of autumn, aimed in particular at investigating the use prohibited filtration processes.