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Better Stock Up! The Price Of Sugary Drinks Will Rise From Tomorrow

Better Stock Up! The Price Of Sugary Drinks Will Rise From Tomorrow

Most products will go up between 18p and 24p per litre

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

Lovers of soft drinks will have to fork out just a little bit extra for this fizzy beverage from tomorrow as the UK's sugar tax comes into effect. It was announced two years ago under George Osbourne but officially included in 2017's budget, with forecasts the simple price hike will reap up to £275 million a year.

The tax will depend on how much sugar is included in the product but it's mainly going to be an increase of 18p to 24p (25¢ to 34¢) per litre.

via GIPHY

A standard can of Coke will go up by 8p (11¢), with some of the other big sugar offenders including Irn-Bru, Red Bull, Dr Pepper and Old Jamaica Ginger Beer.

While fruit juice is sometimes worse in terms of sugar intake, those products - as well as milk, honey and vegetable juice - are exempt from the tax.

This tax will bring the UK in line with Colombia, France, Hungary, Ireland, Mexico, Norway, the Philippines, South Africa, the UAE, parts of the US and some Polynesian countries who have proposed or introduced similar practices.

But if you're thinking that a small price hike of less than 10p (14¢) wouldn't deter anyone from buying soft drinks, you'd be wrong. All evidence points to the contrary.

When Hungary brought in its version of a tax in 2011, it made drinks made with sugar or artificial sweeteners more expensive, as well as salted snacks and condiments. Since then, consumption for energy drinks have dropped a whopping 22 percent while sales of normal fizzy drinks have fallen by 19 percent.

Figures also show Mexico saw a 10 percent decrease of sugary drink consumption in just one year.

The UK's Faculty of Public Health President Professor Simon Capewell told the Guardian: "If you apply a sugary drinks tax across the board and everybody consumes 10 percent less, that produces a 1 percent reduction in disease overall.

PA

"But in poorer areas that would be a three-times-bigger reduction compared with more affluent areas, because poorer people are two to three times more likely to get heart disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer or to have a stroke.

"Poorer people would benefit more from a sugary-drinks tax, so it would be progressive in health terms and not regressive in financial terms to any significant degree."

So while you might freak out when you see your favourite drink is slightly more expensive, just remember that somewhere it's doing good for someone.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Price, Food, SUgar tax, News, Sugary Drinks, Soft Drinks, Community, UK