NY Times: As a Meal Tax Shrinks, Restaurants Hope to Gain

This article should be of special interest to diners in Paris. It seems as if the %26quot;meal tax%26quot; is to be reduced from 19.6% down to 5.5%

Here is the link: nytimes.com/2009/…01paris.html

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Thanks for posting the article Pixfield. It helps to expand on a discussion on another thread about whether or not the tax savings will be passed on to the patrons. It seems from the article that some restaurant owners will lower their prices, and some will keep the difference. It will be interesting to see the outcome.

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On France24 last night, they did a %26quot;special report%26quot; about this issue.

They interviewed the manager of a Buffalo Grill (a chain steak place), who said that some of their plats will be reduced from 8,90 to 7,10 (I think I remember the numbers correctly!) -- so a couple of euros -- a nice discount.

They then interviewed the owner of a small restaurant, who said that he has not raised prices in two years, while simultaneously absorbing the huge increase in his food prices from his vendors -- so the reduction in VAT would give him the breathing room he needed to hold his prices a little longer.

They then turned to the patrons, who overwhelmingly felt that there would be little relief to the consumer, and that there was no chance that the employees would ever see any of the extra money.

Meanwhile, the government now loses something in the range of 2 billion euros in tax revenue -- at a time when they can least afford it.

It was a surprisingly pessimistic look...and the conversations I%26#39;ve had locally of late echo the sentiment.

I think if you find a reduction in price, celebrate...but don%26#39;t hold your breath!