Taxation of sweetened beverages — global trends and national regulations

Soft drink tax levied on selected sweet drinks, as being intermediate, consumptive and single-phase in nature, is in fact an excise duty. The aim behind the topic of this study is to examine whether and to what extent the Polish legislation (about taxation of sweet drinks) complies with global standards and trends. The fee is to be an effective fiscal tool that will create price pressure aimed at persuading consumers to make healthy choices. The degree of this pressure is correlated with pass through rate of the new burden down the distribution chain — not everywhere in the world the full amount of tax has been passed on to the consumer. It is difficult to determine how big (or how small) will be the impact of the tax on consumers' eating habits, and the balance of social benefits and costs could not be draw up until about 5 to 10 years. However, one can believe, as scientific research shows, that the levy will have a positive effect on the health of children and less affluent consumers, but the impact will not be large. Introducing a fee of a maximum amount of PLN 1.20/liter for beverages with the addition of sugars that are monosaccharides or disaccharides (over 5 g per 100 ml) and selected sweeteners, as well as for beverages containing caffeine or taurine, is in line with the global trend of taxing foods that are believed to have negative health effects. It is expected that further taxes (and fees) will be introduced in Poland, which will burden products with high caloric density and low nutritional value, such as chips or french fries.

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