Table 1 Examples of sweetened beverage tax structures, designs and their goals

Ad valorem

Excise on distributors, importers & manufacturers [general budget]

Barbados [27]

[national]

Announced: June 2015

Implemented: 1 September 2015

Carbonated soft drinks, juice drinks, sports drinks, fruit juices that contain added high calorie sweeteners

based on Harmonized System (HS) tariff codes

• 100% juices

• Powders and concentrates

• Sugar sweetened dairy/milks

10% of value/price that manufacturer/distributors charge retailers.

Address the high burden of non-communicable diseases in Barbados [27]

Revenue generation

Reduce consumption of taxed beverages [27]

Ad valorem

Goods and Services Tax (GST) collected at point of purchase [general budget]

India [28] [national]

Implemented: 1 July 2017

Aerated drinks and lemonades based on HS tariff code

• 100% juices

• Powders and concentrates

• Sugar sweetened dairy/milks

• Other non-aerated drinks with added sugar

Aerated drinks and lemonades (40%: from 12% GST on all processed packaged foods/beverages + 28% GST on sin goods)

Simplify tax structure of prior

Central VAT + State VAT, and eliminate cascading taxes [28]

Improve tax collection and revenue generation [28]

Specific – Volume

Excise on distributors, importers & manufacturers [general budget]

Mexico [29] [national]

Implemented: 1 Jan 2014

All non-alcoholic beverages with added sugar including reconstituted powdered sugar-sweetened drinks and flavoured/sweetened dairy products that are not milks

• Milk products (milk is the primary/first ingredient)

• 100% fruit and/or vegetable juice

1 Mexican Peso per ready-to-drink litre

Indexed to inflation once cumulative inflation hits 10%

Address high prevalence of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases in Mexico [29]

Reduce consumption of taxed beverages [29]

Specific – Volume

Excise on distributors, importers & manufacturers [Office of education and general budget]

Philadelphia County/City in Pennsylvania, United States [30]

[City Council vote]

Enacted: 16 June 2016

Implemented: 1 Jan 2017

• Bottled beverages

• Syrups/concentrates for commercial sale

• Fruit/vegetable drinks with added sugar

• Mixers

• Coffee syrups distributed to coffee shops

• Beverages containing sweeteners that are only non-caloric (“diet drinks”)

• Milk products (milk is the primary/first ingredient)

• 100% fruit and/or vegetable juice

• Syrups, concentrates, and powders sold to consumers

• Natural or common sweeteners that are not already in beverages

US $0.015 per ounce on retail sale on ready-to-drink volumes of taxable beverages

Not indexed to inflation

None

Earmark not in ordinance but in mayor’s budget [26].

Revenue generation to support new or expanded programs including Pre-K access and Rebuild (for park, community centre, and library repairs) [26].

Specific – Volume tax based on sugar concentr-ation threshold

Excise on distributors, importers & manufacturers (exempt producers with < 1 million litres/year)

[general budget]

United Kingdom [31]

[national]

Announced: March 2016

Public Consultation: Aug 2016

Implemented: 6 April 2018

All packaged beverages that contain sugar added during production of at least 5 g of sugar per 100 ml in ready to drink form

• Drinks with ≥75% milk

• Milk replacement drinks (e.g. plant based ‘milks’)

• Alcohol replacement drinks (with alcohol by volume < 0.5%)

• 100% fruit/veg juices

• Liquid drink flavouring added to food/drinks

• Powders mixed into liquids and served in open container

£0.18 per litre for drinks containing at least 5 g of sugar per 100 ml

£0.24 per litre for drinks with more than 8 g per 100 ml.

Reduce childhood obesity by removing added sugar from soft drinks [31].

Encourage soft drink producers and importers to [31]:

• reformulate to cut sugar content

• reduce portion sizes of added sugar drinks

• import reformulated drinks with less sugar

Reformulations

Reduce sugar consumption from beverages

Fund children’s health initiatives (e.g., school sports and healthy school breakfast clubs) [31]

Specific – Sugar content based

Excise on distributors, importers & manufacturers (exempt producers with < 50 K liters/yr) [general budget]

South Africa [32] [national]

Policy paper for public consultation:

July 2016

Draft legislation: Feb 2017

Enacted: Dec 2017

Implemented: 1 April 2018

Based on Harmonised System (HS) tariff codes

• Syrups and concentrates

• Cocoa powder and milk extracts

• Non-alcoholic waters, mineral, aerated or juices, with sugar or flavouring

• Non-alcoholic beer

• Milk products (milk is the primary/first ingredient)

• 100% fruit and/or vegetable juice

2.1 SA cents per gram of sugar in excess of 4 g/100 ml based on ready-to-drink (reconstituted) form

Products in taxable HS category with no sugar information will be taxed based on default of 20 g of sugar/100 ml in reconstituted form

Indexed to inflation

Address high prevalence of diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular diseases [32, 33]

Reduce sugar consumption from beverages [32]

Specific – Sugar type based

Excise on distributors, importers & manufacturers [general budget]

Philippines [34] [national]

Enacted: 19 Dec 2017

Implemented: 1 Jan 2018

Sweetened pre-packaged:

• Sweetened juice drinks

• Sweetened tea

• All carbonated beverages

• Flavoured water

• Energy and sports drinks

• Powdered drinks not classified as milk, juice, tea or coffee

• Cereal /grain beverages

• Other non-alcoholic beverages with added sugar

• All milk products, whether powdered or in liquid form, sweetened or not

• 3-in-1 coffee packs

• 100% fruit and vegetable juices

• beverages sweetened with stevia or coconut sugar.

Drinks with caloric and non-caloric sweeteners will be taxed 6 Ph Peso per litre.

Drinks with high-fructose corn syrup taxed at 12 Ph Peso per litre.

Not indexed to inflation

Generate revenue and fight obesity and diabetes and poor dental health

Part of larger Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law [34]

Health measure to addressed poor oral health which results in poor school attendance and poor nutrition

Improve tax collection and revenue generation [34]