Sugar tax on light and zero soft drinks: why?

The new so-called ‘sugar tax’ came into effect on 1 January 2024; drinks containing added sugars are now considerably more expensive. The drinks covered by it raise questions; for example, oat milk is also subject to this sugar tax. And just as surprising: light and zero versions of soft drinks have also become more expensive because of this additional tax. Huh?

The government refers to this tax as a ‘consumption tax’; colloquially, it was quickly dubbed the sugar tax.

But why are light and zero soft drinks more expensive too?

Strangely enough, there is no answer to be found, much to the annoyance of many people. Michelle van Roost, nutritionist and founder of communications agency Voedingsjungle, tells AD: ‘If only we had a real sugar tax.’ You do have one in England, for example, where the amount of tax varies by product — the more sugar, the more tax.’ Sounds logical, but here things work a little differently.

Soft drinks are now lumped together, so all variants are figuratively screwed. This ‘consumption tax’ makes no distinction between Coca-Cola and Coca-Cola Zero, even though the latter contains no sugar. The fact that light and zero variants are certainly not always healthier is, of course, common knowledge — but in this specific case, it is quite remarkable that they are subject to an additional tax because of… sugar. Even though there is none in them.

The sugar tax in England does work

According to Van Roost, there are two reasons for this: ‘The first: soft drink producers are encouraged to use less sugar. Because that makes their product cheaper in the shops. But why would producers reduce the amount of sugar under the Dutch sugar tax? A low-sugar drink such as oat milk or a zero soft drink is taxed just as heavily as a drink with a lot of sugar.’

The second reason? ‘With a tiered sugar tax, consumers are incentivised to choose the product with the least sugar. But that is not the case in the Dutch situation either. The tax increase applies to almost all drinks, including light variants.’

I have nothing more to add, because for now this approach to a sugar tax does little to encourage people to make genuinely healthier choices — it mainly makes everything even more expensive than it already was. And that is despite the fact that we are already paying through the nose at the supermarket.

Who does benefit from it? The government itself. Cha-ching!

Also read:

• Cola Light with your cheeseburger? Better not
• Do you know when drinking soft drinks is worst for you?
• Baking with sugar substitutes

Source: AD