Campaign group in a fizz over sugar tax
16 Aug 2016
A collective of manufacturers and trade associations have joined together to protest against the government’s impending soft drink tax.
The sugar levy targeting the soft drink industry was announced in the March budget and is due to be introduced in 2018.
The government has estimated the measure will raise about £520m, with the proceeds to be put towards expanding sport in schools.
Early indications are that the soft drinks tax will lead to over 4,000 job losses across the UK
Nick Stewart, senior economist at Oxford Economics
However, a campaign group with the slogan ‘Face the facts, Can the tax’ was launched this week to persuade the government to reconsider introducing the tax.
The group claims that instead of imposing a levy, the government should adopt other policies to tackle obesity.
“We want to raise awareness about the impact the tax will have, and to ask the new Chancellor to urgently review the policy,” campaigners said.
The campaign is supported by a number of organisations that represent manufacturers and retailers including the British Soft Drinks Association (BSDA), the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) and the British Beer and Pub Association.
Campaigners claim the government based the soft drinks tax on 2012 data which did not take into account significant action taken by soft drinks companies to cut calories over the last four years.
They also said that while the levy would have minimal impact on obesity, it was likely to cost the industry thousands of jobs, based on data compiled by think tank, Oxford Economics.
“Early indications are that the soft drinks tax will lead to over 4,000 job losses across the UK,” said Nick Stewart, senior economist at Oxford Economics.
“The impact will be felt across the wider economy, predominantly in hospitality and smaller retailers. These are significant losses considering we estimate the tax will only lead to a reduction of just 5 calories per person, per day.”
