CHEAPER EATS?
It’s official: value-added tax for restaurant meals in France will drop from 19.6 percent to 5.5 percent on July 1. The new rate does not apply to alcoholic beverages. It remains to be seen whether restaurant owners, whose representatives have promised to lower prices by 11.8 percent and create 40,000 new jobs in two years, will actually reduce prices or pocket the difference. It is estimated that the move will cost the government €2.35 billion.