Netherlands considering several possible sugar taxes on soft drinks

The outgoing Cabinet has developed five possible variants of a sugar tax that can be levied on non-alcoholic soft drinks. The aim is to make drinks with little or no sugar cheaper, like diet sodas and oat milk. Other drinks with a great deal of sugar, like Red Bull, would become more expensive.

This should help in the fight against obesity, the Cabinet believes. It will be up to the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Parliament, to choose from those variants, an adapted version, or to reject them outright.

The difference between the five variants lies in the number of exceptions. One version of the tax has no exceptions, while another exempts mineral water from the tax. In varying capacity, exemptions can also include low-sugar dairy drinks, soy-based drinks, or pure vegetable and fruit juices. The more exceptions per variant, the higher the tax is on the remaining drinks.

The tricks by manufacturers who add a drop of milk to their juices to avoid the sugar tax can be put to an end in various sugar tax variants. “It seems logical to me to indeed cut this off,” said State Secretary Maarten van Ooijen after the Cabinet meeting on Friday. “It is an undesirable tax avoidance.”

The Cabinet member said he also finds it logical that chocolate milk is subject to a higher tax rate. “But it is ultimately up to the Tweede Kamer to decide on this.”

The starting point in all variants is the same “and actually very simple. Namely low sugar, low tax. Lots of sugar, higher tax,” said Van Ooijen. The introduction of a sugar tax on non-alcoholic drinks is necessary “because there is obesity in the Netherlands,” he argued.

The aim of the tax is to encourage consumers to make healthier choices or to encourage manufacturers to reduce the sugar content of their soft drinks. The Dutch Health Council advises consuming as little sugar as possible through drinks. It does not matter whether it concerns natural or added sugars.

The sugar tax cannot come into effect until 2026 at the earliest.