Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced in her autumn budget last year that the government was considering widening the levy.<\/p>\n
Shadow chancellor Mel Stride labelled the move a “sucker punch” to households when Labour had “already pushed up the cost of living for families”. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
The sugar tax, known formally as the soft drinks industry levy (SDIL), is a tax on pre-packaged drinks <\/b>such as those sold in cans and cartons in supermarkets. <\/p>\n
It applies to manufacturers and was introduced by the Conservative government in April 2018 as a means to tackle obesity.<\/p>\n
On Monday, the Treasury also confirmed proposals to reduce the maximum amount of sugar allowed in drinks before they become subject to the levy from 5g to 4g per 100ml.<\/p>\n
Some 203 pre-packed milk-based drinks on the market, which make up 93% of sales within the category, will be hit with the tax unless their sugar content is reduced in accordance with the proposals, government analysis says.<\/p>\n
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the government was consulting on “going further” with the existing levy after it was shown to have had a particular impact on children’s health.<\/p>\n
“We are making sure we are taking practical, sensible measures to improve the health of our children,” she told BBC Breakfast on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The original exemption for milk-based drinks was included because of concerns about calcium consumption, particularly among children.<\/p>\n
Announcing the planned changes, the Treasury said young people only get 3.5% of their calcium intake from such drinks, meaning “it is also likely that the health benefits do not justify the harms from excess sugar”.<\/p>\n
“By bringing milk-based drinks and milk substitute drinks into the SDIL, the government would introduce a tax incentive for manufacturers of these drinks to build on existing progress and further reduce sugar in their recipes,” <\/b>it added.<\/p>\n
The government estimates that 89% of soft drinks sold in the UK are not subject to the tax because of widespread reformulation by manufacturers since 2018.<\/p>\n
But it added that the levy had effectively created a “target” of just below the 5g threshold, and products had clustered below 5g as a result.<\/p>\n
The government consultation will run from Monday until 21 July.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
The SDIL has raised a total of \u00a31.9 billion since its introduction in 2018, according to government statistics released last September. Revenue for HMRC for the 2023-24 financial year was \u00a3338 million.<\/p>\n
Opponents of the levy in recent years include the soft drinks industry, pubs and off licences. Some argue the levy disproportionately affects lower-income families and does little to tackle obesity.<\/p>\n
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage told the BBC on Tuesday he was “sick to death of a government telling us how we should live” and said the focus should be on educating people who can then make decisions about their health.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said she had not been a “fan” of the levy when it was first introduced by her party, calling it “a bit too much nanny state”.<\/p>\n
She told BBC Breakfast: “My worry is that the government does not have any plans… and so they’re just looking for what else they can tax.”<\/p>\n
But Tam Fry, the chairman of the National Obesity Forum, said he welcomed the proposals “tremendously” and said it was “high-time” the levy was extended.<\/p>\n
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that it was “not a game-changer” in terms of tackling obesity, but “one of those things that is needed”.<\/p>\n
Industry body the Food and Drink Federation said it welcomed the chance to share its views in the consultation. <\/p>\n
It said “significant progress” had already been made and “many years of investment in research and development” had reduced sugar in soft drinks by 46% in the last five years, with a 30% sugar reduction in pre-packed milk-based drinks in the last three years.<\/p>\n
It added that food and drink manufacturers were facing a series of inflationary pressures and called on the government to “continue to create the right conditions for businesses to innovate and also be clear about their long-term goals to promote business confidence”. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The sugar tax applied to fizzy drinks could be extended to pre-packaged milkshakes and lattes under new government plans. The government is consulting on proposals to end the exemption from the tax for milk-based drinks, as well as non-dairy substitutes such as oats or rice. Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced in her autumn budget last year […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":53699,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[53],"tags":[4300,17006,17005,6137,875],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53698"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53698"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53700,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53698\/revisions\/53700"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}