Dutch government's plans to tax sugary softdrinks will also make beer more expensive
The government’s plans for a sugar tax will also make beer more expensive, the Telegraaf reported based on a letter from the Cabinet and conversations with insiders. The sugar tax will impact beer prices, not because the drink contains sugar, but because the price of beer is linked to the price of soft drinks.
According to the newspaper, a liter bottle of cola will become 25 cents more expensive, and peer prices will rise by around €1 per crate.
The Jetten I Cabinet’s coalition agreement includes plans to introduce a sugar tax on products containing more than 6 percent sugar. This is expected to generate €900 million and nudge people towards a healthier lifestyle. Minister Sophie Hermans of Public Health and State Secretary Eelco Eerenberg of Finance are currently investigating how to implement this.
The Cabinet expects some resistance from fruit juice manufacturers, but hopes a sugar tax on soft drinks will be relatively easy to implement. There is already a tax on non-alcoholic beverages, covering everything except mineral water, dairy, and soy drinks.
Taxing the sugar content of food products will be much more complicated, the newspaper’s insiders warned. They likened it to the time when the government looked into reducing the VAT on fruit and vegetables to zero.
Back in 2023, researchers from SEO Economisch Onderzoek urged the government to abandon its plans to reduce VAT on fruit and vegetables. "Based on feasibility and legal tenability, all variants thereof entail major-to-very major risks," the researchers said, pointing to issues ranging from which products to include and exclude to high costs involved in the measure.
The VAT reduction plan also intended to nudge people into making healthier food choices, but unlike the sugar tax, it would have made groceries cheaper, not more expensive. Earlier this month, the supermarket association CBL warned that grocery prices would jump by 10 percent next year, partly due to government measures like the sugar tax, truck tolls, and energy levies.
