Does the UK count as non-EU yet?
Anyway, thanks to some celebrity chef stirring up trouble, they've got a new tax on sugar in soft drinks as part of their budget. I've no doubt Australia will follow suit, given how happy we are to tax the hell out of vices in the name of public health, despite the noise we currently have to the negative from those in the position to do so. Since we already pay near the highest tax in the world on the rum, why not on the cola too?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/food-and-drink/news/sugar-tax-what-does-it-mean-and-who-will-be-affected/Obesity currently costs the NHS £5.1 billion per year which is projected to rise to £9.7 billion by 2050, with wider costs to society estimated to reach £49.9 billion per year.
A recent report claimed the NHS could save almost 80,000 lives in a generation by weaning the public off its sweet tooth. Today's children and teenagers are consuming three times the recommended level of sugar (adults fare almost as badly).
Understandably Coca Cola is quite butthurt about this as they don't care about children becoming obese walking coffins
Drinks maker says production of lower-calorie beverages, not price hike, is better strategy to reduce obesity.Citing the example of a similar tax in Mexico, he added: “If the objective is to reduce calorie intake on a daily basis then the example in Mexico show it doesn’t work.” Den Hollander said Mexico’s tax on sugar drinks, introduced in 2014, had only reduced average intake by six calories a day.
But sales in Mexico have fallen 12% since it imposed a 10% surcharge on soft drinks in 2014. Similar schemes have also been introduced in France, Finland and Hungary.
Also interesting to note is that switching from coke to diet coke means you lower your calorie intake but suffer an increased risk of cardiovascular disease; not like they care though, they get money either way :
P
Nah, only way to reduce it is to reduce the taste for caramel soda corps altogether. Also them actually paying their taxes for once would be great :
D
Jaime Olliver was dancingNice lad
Aussie gov will probably follow suit because more taxes and less strain on healthcare is good, one of the big problems the UK national health service faces is that in this time where budgeting is a serious issue there is literally not enough money in the country to deal with obesity
Which is ridiculous as people should just stop living so unhealthily
Alas