Over 34,000 people sign petition to lower Estonia's VAT rate on food
Tens of thousands of signatures have been added to an online petition calling for a lower VAT rate on food in Estonia. On July 1, the rate was raised to 24 percent.
The petition was posted on the Citizen Initiative Portal (Rahvaalgatus.ee) by TV show "MasterChef Eesti" winner Jana Guzanova on Thursday.
She is calling for the tax to be lowered to 10 percent on food, similar to many other European countries that reduce the rate on essential items. Estonia currently applies the tax to all goods.
By Saturday morning, the petition had gathered over 34,000 signatures. One thousand are needed for the initiative to be discussed in the Riigikogu. Signatures must be given with an ID card.
Guzanova pointed out that food prices in Estonia are 109 percent of the European Union average (Eurostat, 2024), while the average gross salary falls 36 percent short of the EU average (Eurostat, Q1, 2025).
Estonians spend 19 percent of their income on food, compared to the EU average of 13 percent, she added.
The majority of petitions posted on the Citizen Initiative Portal have fewer than 1,000 signatures.
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Editor: Helen Wright
