Several federal states want to make sugary soft drinks more expensive. Nine out of 16 federal states are in favor of a so-called soft drink tax, according to a statement in the minutes of the Consumer Protection Ministers’ Conference. “Bild” was the first to report this.
A 0.5-liter bottle of cola contains 54 grams of sugar – that’s 18 sugar cubes. The WHO recommends a maximum of 50 grams of sugar per day for adults. For children, the maximum is 30 to 40 grams.
The states have now called on the federal government to examine a “manufacturer-related tax” on such drinks. According to the paper, “despite voluntary commitments and promises from the industry in Germany, the average sugar content of, for example, soft drinks has not fallen in recent years to the extent that would be necessary for a healthy diet.”
According to the protocol statement, the initiative is supported by Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Saxony and Thuringia. The federal states did not provide any information on the amount of the tax. The World Health Organization recommends a special tax of at least 20 percent on sugary drinks in order to reduce the population’s sugar consumption and its health consequences.
According to a study, a sugar tax on soft drinks in Germany alone would save up to 16 billion euros over the next two decades, of which around 4 billion euros would be spent on health care costs. In addition, the risk of obesity and cardiovascular disease would decrease. This is the conclusion of researchers from the Technical University of Munich and the University of Liverpool in the UK.
“A soft drink tax in Germany would have significant positive effects,” they write in the journal “PLOS Medicine.” In all simulated variants, less sugar would be consumed and illnesses would be less common. “This would reduce economic costs and relieve the burden on the health system.”
Over a hundred countries have already introduced various types of sugar tax. “The introduction is effective and is recommended for German policy,” said Michael Stolpe from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW) about the results.
Falk Schwendicke from the Charité in Berlin also believes that taxing sugar-sweetened beverages makes a lot of sense from a health policy and economic perspective. “The calculated cost savings and health benefits are considerable.” This could have a positive impact on the behavior of population groups that are otherwise difficult to reach.
In Great Britain, the so-called “Soft Drinks Industry Levy” has been in place since 2018; this is a graduated tax that manufacturers of sugar-sweetened drinks have to pay. For five grams of sugar per 100 milliliters or more, 18 pence (equivalent to 21 cents) per liter must be paid, and for eight grams of sugar or more, 24 pence.
Instead, Germany is relying on a voluntary commitment by the beverage industry – studies have shown that this has had moderate results so far. The study from Munich now shows that the desired effect of a tax would actually occur in this country and could reduce the risk of obesity and cardiovascular disease, for example.
The expected effects are particularly large for type 2 diabetes: “According to our models, taxation would result in up to 244,100 people developing type 2 diabetes later or not developing it at all within the next 20 years,” explained the study’s lead author, Karl Emmert-Fees.
Only recently, a study published in the journal “BMJ Nutrition, Prevention
