Plans for sugar and salt tax rejected
The government has ruled out proposals to tax sugar and salt in the food strategy for the UK
The original plan, led by Leon founder Henry Dimbleby, was to introduce a tax of £3 per kilo of sugar and £6 per kilo of salt, which is going to be used in processed foods.
The tax could have raised an estimated £3.4bn a year but would have pushed up prices for manufacturers of processed foods while restaurants would also have been captured by the charge.
The overarching aim of the salt and sugar reformulation tax was to reduce diet-related ill health through reducing consumption of calories, sugar and salt.
The original proposals for the tax said that some of the revenue raised should be allocated to extending the free school meals programme to an extra 1.1m children.
Last week the prime minister Boris Johnson said: ‘I am not, I must say, attracted to the idea of extra taxes on hardworking people.’
Report lead Henry Dimbleby said: ‘You’re not going to break this junk food cycle unless you tackle it directly, and that is what we are recommending with the sugar and salt reformulation tax’.
The sugar tax on fizzy drinks led to a reformulation of drinks, reducing the overall sugar component and did not reduce sales.
Katharine Jenner, nutritionist and director at Action on Sugar & Salt said: ‘The tax would have been on the manufacturers and the big multinationals which are producing food with lots of salt and sugar so that cost would be borne by the industry. It is such a shame that the government has not seen the value of this tax and the fact is that this tax is not meant to impact individuals.’
Story by Sara White from Accountancy Daily