Barometer | 23 March 2016

Bottling out

Does any country have experience of a sugary drinks tax?
— Denmark introduced a tax on sweetened soft drinks in the 1930s which by 2013 was being levied at a rate of €0.22 a litre and brought in €60m a year.
— However, the Danish government also estimated that it was losing €38.9m in VAT from illegal soft drink sales.
— In 2011, the government also introduced a fat tax, levied at 16 Kroner (£1.78) on food items with more than 2.3% saturated fat, and planned a more general sugar tax.
— However, the fat tax was abandoned after 15 months when surveys suggested only 7% of Danes had reduced their fat intake. The tax was, however, blamed for 1,300 lost jobs as Danish shoppers crossed to Germany or Sweden. The proposed sugar tax was abandoned and the soft drinks tax abolished, too.

Old wives’ tale

Individuals are living longer, but does that make us an ageing population?