Just over three months since Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull quashed calls for a tax on sweetened beverages, the media as well as a coalition of health professionals have relit the torch on the debate.
Sugar taxes are never far from the headlines as governments scramble to deal with rising cases of obesity and diabetes, and their related health costs.
A leading lawmaker has joined the drinks industry’s calls for the government to implement a sugar tax based on content, instead of the current proposal which would be governed by sugar volume.
Thailand will phase in a sugar tax over six years in a bid to help drinks manufacturers to lower their sugar content and take advantage of a simultaneous lowering of tax on sugar-free beverages.
A New Zealand taxpayers’ lobby group has accused those who are pushing for a tax on sugary drinks tax of “post-truth virtue-signalling”, citing evidence that many of their claims are demonstrably wrong.
The World Health Organisation has asked countries on the west side of the Pacific to consider imposing a tax on all soft drinks in a bid to tackle rising rates of obesity.
The head of a body that represents New Zealanders with diabetes has hit out at arguments that a tax on sugary products would help prevent the spread of the disease.
