Sugar tax to fight sugar consumption?

This article is more than 12 months old

Aug 23, 2017 06:00 am

What have other countries done to curb sugar consumption? And how has it worked out for them?

Some countries, such as Mexico and Brunei, have a sugar tax.

In Mexico, a study found that purchases of sugary drinks dropped by 5.5 per cent in the first year after the tax was introduced in October 2013. This was followed by a 9.7 per cent drop the following year. However, the effect on overall health has yet to be determined.

Interestingly, one of the earliest countries to implement a tax on soft drinks - Denmark - repealed it in 2014.

The tax had been in place since the 1930s and earned the Danish government some 450 million krone (S$97 million) in annual revenue.

However, it also resulted in a yearly loss of 290 million krone to illegal soft drink sales. - THE STRAITS TIMES