IT’S A MIXED bag as far as the tax on mobile phones and sweetened beverages is concerned.
More than a year after the sweet drink tax was implemented, Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler said that not only had the Government collected less than expected, but they also had not seen a decline in the consumption of the sugary products.
It was a “special” ten per cent excise tax on “sweetened beverages such as carbonated soft drinks, juice drinks, sports drinks, and fruit juices” – items that contained “high-calorie sweeteners”.
“[The tax] has been running just below trend in terms of collection. We haven’t seen a dramatic decline in the use of sweetened beverages yet,” Sinckler told the media after he donated thousands of exercise books to Eagle Hall Primary School yesterday. (AD)
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