When former chancellor George Osborne announced a sugar tax
on the soft drinks industry as part of the 2016 Budget, he did so while touting
the claim that such a move would have a substantial positive effect on
childhood obesity levels and related illnesses. However, the #DontTaxHealthy
Campaign states that, rather than encouraging people to eat healthy, the ‘sugar
tax’ simply serves to punish those who cannot afford the high price often
associated with healthier options.
As a result, the campaign group is calling on the government
to reduce the VAT rate on all low-sugar food & drink down to 5% from the
standard 20% currently charged in order to ‘decrease the cost of obesity to the
economy’.
According to a YouGov survey released last Thursday, nearly
70% of British households said they find healthy food & drinks more
expensive when compared to other products, with 40% of 18 to 34 years olds
saying they can’t afford to purchase healthy products because of the high price
of such goods.
As reported by The Independent, Tam Fry, a spokesperson for the National Obesity Forum, said,
“Both the food & and drink industry and the UK government have a
responsibility to encourage, rather than deter, healthier choices.
“The research released by #DontTaxHealthy clearly shows that
shoppers in the UK find healthy food and drink more expensive. Price acts as a
barrier to healthier purchases. We need to remove this.”
The campaign, launched by the founders of OPPO, a UK-based
healthy ice cream company, and Sugarwise, an organisation that certifies lower
sugar food and drink, is already attracting a lot of attention, with their change.org petition currently sitting at just over 3,000 signatures at the time of
writing. Hopefully the campaign continues to gather steam and can boast a
success by the end.
Sam Bonson
Sam is an aspiring novelist with a passion for fantasy and crime thrillers. He is currently working as a content writer, journalist & editor in an attempt to expand his horizons.
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