Public Preferences for Meat Tax Attributes in the Netherlands : A Discrete Choice Experiment

To stay within global environmental boundaries, the world's food system requires significant changes. In this context, a tax on meat products is frequently put forward as a policy measure to stimulate a dietary shift away from meat products. Understanding public preferences for the design of such a tax may be a starting point for increasing its political feasibility. Our paper explores public preferences for meat tax attributes among inhabitants of the Netherlands, the most livestock-intensive country in Europe. Using a discrete choice experiment, we estimate marginal willingness to pay for (i) different uses of tax revenues; (ii) different products under taxation; and (iii) unilateral vs. multilateral implementation of the tax. We find that earmarking revenues for specific purposes is preferred to adding them to the general budget, where using revenues to reduce the value-added tax on fruits and vegetables achieves the highest willingness to pay. Our results may guide continued meat tax discussions in the Netherlands, as well as further research on meat tax preferences in other countries