STAKEHOLDER WORKSHOP
Despite lack of studies on health benefits, sugar-drinks set for tax
Studies by the government on nutrition and diet have not been taken, so the health benefits of the tax are far from certain, write Virusha Subban, Yonatan Sher and Yue Li
At a stakeholder workshop earlier in November on the proposed tax on sugar-sweetened beverages, the Treasury said it was proceeding with plans to implement the tax on April 1 2017, and that legislative measures, including the introduction of a new schedule to the Customs and Excise Act, would be finalised in early 2017. The Treasury said it still favoured the approach of taxing each gram of sugar in a beverage at an initial rate of 2.29c per gram, with the intention of increasing that rate annually by at least inflation. This equates to an approximate tax burden of 20% on the average price per litre of sugar-sweetened beverages. In its policy paper published in July, the Treasury differentiated between naturally occurring sugars — intrinsic sugar — found in the structure of most foods such as fruits, vegetables and dairy products which would be exempt from tax; and sugar added to the drinks during processing — free sugars — which would be subject to the tax. This meant that 100% fru...
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