Labour’s 10c tax proposal on sugary drinks
The government looks to be preparing another push against childhood obesity with a new bill
Print18 January 2016
Now more than ever, society is focused on promoting a balanced diet alongside an active lifestyle, and as such the governmetn has for some time been attempting to introduce a sugar tax. According to the Daily Mirror, the Labour party are planning just such a move, to propose a 10c tax on sugary drinks as part of a plan to tackle childhood obesity.
This follows research in the Sunday Times which revealed that some supermarket branded colas are now as cheap as bottled water. The implementation of a new sugar tax – similar to Health Minister Leo Varadkar’s proposal last October which was defeated in cabinet – would see the price of most branded 330ml cans go above €1, and potentially raise up to €100m per year.
The rumoured move comes amid the revelation that Ireland is on course to become the most obese country in europe, according to the World Health Organisation.
Experts say that the ready availability of cheap soft drinks – some of which contain up to ten teaspoons of sugar is approaching an epidemic and something needs to be done. The supermarkets themselves have respoded to these claims and to the proposal, with Tesco saying that it has a programme in place to cut the sugar content in all of its own-brand cola. “We give customers as much nutritional information as we can,” the company told the Mirror, “so they can make informed decisions.”
SuperValu added that it plans to drive sales of water this year, through multipack offers and allocation of more shelf space.
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