Government sets out its case for taxing sugary drinks in packed parliamentary hearing
If South Africans consumed fewer sugary drinks they’d be slimmer, have better teeth, and be more productive members of society, the Department of Health told Parliament on Monday as it set the scene for a packed day of public hearings on Treasury’s proposal to introduce a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages. "Very often the public is not aware that sugar-sweetened beverages have a lot of sugar. Coke has about eight teaspoons of sugar, a Fanta 13 teaspoons. Can you imagine putting 13 teaspoons of sugar in a cup of tea?" said the department’s head of noncommunicable diseases, Melvyn Freeman. Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan announced in his February budget last year that the government plans to introduce a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages from April 1 2017, to combat obesity and its associated health risks. The Treasury has proposed a tax of 2.29c/g of added sugar, which is roughly a 20% tax on the average price per litre of sugary drinks. The proposal has met stiff opposition from the be...
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