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The bitter part of the tax on sugary drinks
It is difficult to defend the soft drink giants, but their insistence on an explanation for the rise in diet drinks has not received a substantive response from the legislature.
The Ministry of Finance is rolling the ball to the Ministry of Health, which for its part does not really want to provide an answer.
And with such an attitude, one can only wish and wish that we would just be healthy
Tags
Soft drinks
Sugary drinks
Ministry of Health
Ministry of Finance
reform
Obesity
Liat Ron
Tuesday, 16 November 2021, 14:27 Updated: 14:49
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There is no denying that sugar is bad for health. Most doctors in the world agree on this fact. Everyone will probably agree that excess sugar is bad for health. Therefore, the decision to tax sugary drinks, which contain sugar, makes sense and is even required.
What is not understood is the insistence of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Health to include diet drinks in this tax package, along the way, and under the same heading: maintaining public health.
This issue is now at the heart of the battle of the strong, which the beverage manufacturers are conducting in order to achieve as many achievements as possible in their struggle against the terrible decree, for them. It is difficult to protect the beverage giants, mainly because there is no need to pity them: these are huge companies that earn huge sums, and their war on the level of taxation of beverages that contain sugar is a commercial and legitimate attempt to reduce damages.
But - and this is a very big but - their claims against the inclusion of diet drinks in the taxation outline, certainly make sense.
Sweeteners such as sorbitol, saccharin, or sucrose are not ideal substances for the human body, but studies on them have been conducted constantly over the last 20 years, and they are under constant monitoring.
Most experts are reassured that if consumed without overdoing it, they are safe to use, except in exceptional cases.
So let's get off the agenda one thing: maintaining public health is not here.
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To the full article
If the reason is a war on obesity, why price the alternative to the sweet drink as well?
(Photo: ShutterStock)
The Ministry of Health was left unanswered
According to the proposed outline, which is currently being discussed in the Economics Committee, the public should pay another shekel for a liter of a drink containing sugar and an additional 70 ag for a liter of a diet drink.
The pre-determined level of taxation on diet drinks indicates that the decision-makers themselves realized that there was something unthinkable here. In a fantastic world, we would all drink only pure spring water, but since perfection is only available on Instagram, and human taste seeks sweetness in a drink - something that will interest the tongue, one should give the public a plausible option. The "diets" of their kind, are a very reasonable solution.
In the global war on obesity, backed by the World Health Organization (which encourages taxation on sugary drinks), citizens should be made to prefer diet drinks. Therefore, those who only have public health before their eyes, should even discount them - and not try them out and make them the ones they lied to buy.
In yesterday's discussion in the Finance Committee, the Ministry of Health presented the data on obesity and morbidity in diabetes and emphasized that they are higher in the weaker sections. If this is the case, there is no reason to increase the price of diet drinks that organizations such as Eyal, the Israeli Diabetes Association, give them a standard mark and encourage diabetics to consume them.
Moreover, even the weaker sections should have the ability to drink something other than water if they feel like it. So where does the obsession to raise diet drink prices come from?
The only motivation that can come to mind in this insistence is of course money, that is, a desire to put more of it into the state coffers, even if without a real need.
But it's not really sure this is the case: a check with the budget department shows that the Treasury has no problem abolishing the taxation on diet drinks here and now and whoever insists on leaving the tax on diet drinks is, in fact, a surprise, the Ministry of Health. Why? God Solutions.
Addressing the Ministry of Health with such a simple question, failed to yield an answer that does not deal with procedures relating to a written application.
I wish they would maintain public health there as they adhere to the procedures.
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