Taxes - World Action on Salt. Sugar & Health

Many countries, territories and cities now have some form of ‘sugar tax’ in place. Our table below summarises taxes in place worldwide:

Country/Territory	Implemented	Tax	Product categories covered
Kingdom of Bahrain	2017	Excise tax - 100% tax on energy drinks, 50% tax on soft drinks	Aerated flavoured soft drinks, including concentrates, powders, gels or extracts which will be made into an aerated drink
Barbados	2015	10% excise tax	Locally produced and imported sugary drinks, including carbonated soft drinks, juice drinks and sports drinks Exempt - 100% natural fruit juice, coconut water, plain milk, evaporated milk
Belgium	2015	Excise tax – 0.068 Euro per litre	All soft drinks, including non-alcoholic drinks/water with added sugar, other sweeteners or flavours
Bermuda	2018	50% ad valorem tax	Sugar or other sweetener-flavoured waters and other non-alcoholic beverages. Syrups and confectionery also included. Exempt - fruit and vegetable juices
Brunei	2017	Excise duty of 0.40 Brunei dollars per litre	Sugar-sweetened soft drinks with >6g sugar per 100mL, soya milk drinks with >7g sugar per 100mL, malted or chocolate drinks with > 8g sugar per 100mL, coffee based drinks/coffee flavoured drinks with 6g sugar per 100mL Exempt - milk-based beverages and fruit juices
Cook Islands	2014	Tax - 9.80 New Zealand dollars per kg of sugar	Sugar-sweetened soft drinks
Dominica	2015	10% excise tax	Food and drinks with high sugar content e.g. confectionery, soft drinks, energy drinks
Ecuador	2016	10% ad valorem tax	Soft drinks with < 25g of sugar per litre and all energy drinks. Drinks with > 25g of sugar per litre are taxed at a special rate of $0.0018 per gram of sugar Exempt - dairy products and their derivatives, mineral water and juices that have 50% of natural content
Estonia	2018	Varying tax rates based on sugar content	Products with only artificial sweeteners: 10 euro cents per litre. Products with sugar content of 5–8 g per 100 ml: 10 euro cents per litre. Products with sugar content of more than 8 g per 100 ml: 30 euro cents per litre. Products with artificial sweeteners, sugar and sugar content of 5–8 g per 100 ml: 20 euro cents per litre. Products with artificial sweeteners, sugar and sugar content of more than 8 g per 100 ml: 30 euro cents per litre
Fiji	2007	Excise duty - 35 Fijian cents per litre if locally produced, 15% ad valorem excise duty if imported	Sugar-sweetened beverages. Imported powders and preparations to make beverages (other than milk-based drinks) as well as flavoured and coloured sugar syrups are taxed at 10%
Finland		Excise duty of 0.22 Euro per litre for beverages with more than 0.5% sugar. Otherwise 0.11 Euro per litre	Non-alcoholic beverages
France	2012	Excise duty dependent on sugar content	Drinks with added sugar and artificial sweeteners, including non-calorically sweetened drinks
French Polynesia	2002	Excise duty - 40 CFP franc per litre on domestically produced sweet drinks and 60 CFP franc per litre on imported sweet drinks	Sugar-sweetened beverages and beer, confectionery and ice cream
India	2017	28% Goods and Services Tax	All products containing added sugar or other sweeteners
Republic of Ireland’s	2018	Sugar Sweetened Drinks Tax – 20 cents per litre for drinks with 5-8g sugar per 100ml and 30 cents per litre for drinks with more than 8g of sugar per 100ml	Non-alcoholic, water-based and juice-based drinks which have added sugar content of 5g per 100mL and above Exempt - Fruit juices and dairy products
Kiribati	2014	40% excise duty	Non-alcoholic beverages, including sweetened or flavoured waters. Exempt - fruit and vegetable juices, fruit concentrates
Latvia	2004	Excise tax - 7.40 Euro per 100L	Non-alcoholic beverages, including sweetened or flavoured waters Exempt - fruit and vegetable juice and nectar, drinks with >90% juice and less than 10% added sugar
Malaysia	2018	Excise tax – RM 0.40	Non-alcoholic beverages with >5g sugar per 100ml and fruit/vegetable juice with >12g sugar per 100ml
Mauritius	2016	Excise tax - 0.03 rupees per gram of sugar	Juices, milk-based drinks and soft drinks
Mexico	2014	1 peso/litre tax	Drinks containing added sugar Exempt - Milk and dairy products
Nauru	2007	30% tax	Imported sugar, confectionery, carbonated soft drinks, cordials, flavoured milks and drink mixes
Norway	1981	Varying tax rates	Beverages are taxed at 3.34 Norwegian Kroner per litre Concentrated syrups are taxed at 20.32 NOK per litre Chocolate and sugar products are taxed at 20.19 NOK per kg Sugar is taxed at 7.81 NOK per kg
Palau	2003	$0.28175 per litre import tax	Carbonated soft drinks
Peru	2018	25% tax	Beverages with >6g sugar per 100ml
Philippines		Excise tax - 6 pesos per litre or 12 pesos per litre	Sugar or sweetener flavoured drinks. Higher tax rate applied to drinks with high-fructose corn syrup Exempt - 100% natural fruit and vegetable juices, milk products and meal replacement drinks
Portugal	2017	Tax - €0.08 per litre for drinks with <80g sugar per litre, €0.16 per litre for drinks with >80g per litre	Sugar or sweetener flavoured drinks and waters
Samoa	1984	0.4 Samoan Tala per litre	Soft drinks, both imported and locally produced
South Africa	2017	Levy - 2.1 cents per gram of sugar	Sugar-sweetened drinks with >4g sugar per 100ml
Spanish region of Catalonia	2017	Levy - €0.08 per litre for drinks with 5-8g per litre and €0.12 for drinks with more than 8g per 100ml	Sugar-sweetened drinks, including flavoured waters, cold tea/coffee drinks, milk-based drinks Exempt - natural fruit juices, alcoholic beverages, sugar-free drinks and milk-alternatives
Thailand	2017	Ad valorem tax – 14% or 10% dependent on sugar content. Additional specific taxes	Sugar or sweetener flavoured drinks, including waters – 14%. Fruit and vegetable juices - 10% Specific tax - 0.10 baht per litre for drinks containing 6g to 8g sugar; 0.30 baht per litre for drinks containing 8g to 10g; 0.50 baht per litre for drinks containing 10g of sugar to 14g and 1 baht per litre for drinks containing >14g per 100mL of sugar
Tonga	2013	1 Pa’anga per litre	Soft drinks containing sugar or sweeteners
United Arab Emirates	2017	50% tax on all carbonated drinks, 100% tax applied to energy drinks	Carbonated drinks and energy drinks Exempt – aerated water
Vanuatu	2015	50 vatu per litre excise duty	Sugar or sweetener flavoured drinks

USA

Several cities across the USA have now introduced sugar taxes, including:

California

Albany – 1 cent per ounce on drinks with added caloric sweetener and exempts 100% juice, artificially sweetened beverages, infant formula, milk products, medical drinks and alcoholic beverages
Berkeley – 1 cent per ounce on sweetened drinks and exempts meal-replacement and dairy drinks, diet sodas, fruit juice and alcohol
Oakland – 1 cent per ounce on drinks with added sugars and exempts 100% juice, artificially sweetened beverages, infant formula, milk products, medical drinks and alcoholic beverages
San Francisco – 1 cent per ounce on drinks with added sugar and more than 25kcal per 12oz. Applies to syrup and powder concentrates but exempts 100% juice, artificially sweetened beverages, infant formula, milk products, medical drinks and alcoholic beverages

Colorado

Boulder – 2 cents per ounce on beverages with added sugars or sweeteners

Pennsylvania

Philadelphia – 1.5 cents per ounce on sugar- and artificially-sweetened drinks including diet soda

Washington

Seattle – 1.75 cents per ounce on sugary drinks. Diet drinks, milk-based products and fruit juice are exempt

Chile Case Study

Overview

Chile introduced a soft drinks tax in 2014. Drinks with 6.25g of added sugar per 100ml or more are taxed at 18% while drinks below that threshold are taxed 10%.

Why was the tax implemented?

The Chilean government introduced its soft drinks tax to reduce purchases of these products, in an effort to address levels of obesity and diabetes in the country.

Has there been any impact?

A 2018 study found that purchases of drinks taxed at 18% had fallen by 21.6%. This in turn led to a fall in the amount of sugar purchased via soft drinks by 15.1%.