It’s time for the fat tax. In order to stem the budgetary drift, deputies and leaders have worked on new taxes. The agri-food industry, the country’s leading industrial sector, has not cut back: on the occasion of the Social Security Financing Bill (PLFSS), and more precisely the passages in committee, a host of taxes appeared.
There will only be one left
Here proposing to increase the price of flavored and more highly alcoholic beers, there increasing taxation on the sweetest sodas, here again simply proposing to target all food products having had added sugar, a measure particularly concerning confectionery, chocolate and other breakfast cereal suppliers.
We will have to wait until Monday, November 4 for parliament to decide on the subject. But following the intense mobilization of agro unions on the subject, only one tax should remain at the end of this parliamentary round: that carried in particular by the deputies Jérôme Guedj (PS) and Cyrille Isaac-Sibille (Democratic Movement) proposing to change taxation on drinks containing added sugars.
Battle over the cost of the soda measure
Until now, the tax base was progressively based on fifteen levels linked to the sugar level. There should only be three left. More critical for manufacturers: level 3 of the new version, i.e. the maximum tax, corresponds to level 7 of the old grid, the median level. Second thorn in the shoes of producers: while the government has shown itself hostile to other taxes on sugar, the idea of taxing non-alcoholic drinks containing added sugars has gained ground with the executive, which announced in this end of October his intention to support the amendments.
Still, the scale should continue to fuel discussions between the Assembly and the government. Because how much will the measure cost the entire sector? Motus on the side of the Non-Alcoholic Beverages Union (SBSA). In any case, for a liter of Coca-Cola, the new tax, if the scale remains fixed as it stands, will represent 11 cents. “This is not only a matter of concern for us but for the entire sugar sector, while we are the second largest outlet for French sugar, underlines Inés Boulant, general director of the SBSA. Since 2020, our members have invested two billion euros in France: by pulling from all sides, there is a risk of having repercussions on investments.”
The brewers’ sigh of relief
“Industrialists cannot say that they are going to lose money because the scale that we are defending eliminates taxes on the first level, that corresponding to the least sugary drinks, argues MP Cyrille Isaac-Sibille. If they lower the sugar content, they will make money. My goal is not to bring in taxes but to attack a public health problem.” Bercy, however, would not necessarily see it that way and could push to change the scale in its all-out quest for funds. Furthermore, even if the amendment is adopted on Monday, November 4, this whole affair remains conditional on one big if, in this period of political instability: the PLFSS as a whole must subsequently be adopted by the Assembly.
In the meantime, after a few days of lively discussions, some will be able to go away for the weekend with a lighter mind. This is the case of the brewers, who shouted against “a tax bludgeoning” that the budget reserved after passage in committee, says Magali Filhue, general delegate of Brasseurs de France. The union had estimated the additional taxes that then appeared at a minimum of one billion euros. Beers with a content exceeding 5.5 degrees of alcohol and flavored beers were particularly targeted. These amendments should not be included in the final text.
A minister forced to backpedal
The mobilization paid off. In recent days, Ania has been confident about the government’s support. The latter brought the Minister of Health, Geneviève Darrieussecq, back into line, who had positioned herself in favor of a tax on all products containing added sugars – which had found an echo in the Assembly in particular via the amendments of the two aforementioned deputies. The measure had made a jump on the side of Alliance 7, a union which notably represents confectioners, chocolate makers and manufacturers of breakfast cereals such as Kellanova, formerly Kellog’s. The latter put forward the figure of 400 million euros taken from their finances.
Present in the hemicycle on October 29, Genneviève Darrieussecq backpedaled: “As for the food industry as a whole, rather than systematically taxing we must try to convince them to use recipes with less sugar”she declared after indicating “subscribe to the soda tax”. “Yes for sodas, no for other taxes on the agri-food industry” is moreover the position on which the government has settled, as was indicated a few hours later on the rue de Varenne side, where the Ministry of Agriculture resides, probably one of the most hostile to these taxation designs.
Reduce sugar, manufacturers know how to do it
A middle position therefore seems to have been adopted and the National Assembly should be less “irrational” than some players in the agri-food sectors feared. Only the non-alcoholic beverage manufacturers will, at the time of writing, continue to work on reducing sugar.
This is good, some like PepsiCo do not hide their plans to cut their sugar supply in Europe by the end of the decade – to substitute sweeteners. Be careful, however, a player in the sector recalls concerns about the evolution of the popularity of the best known of them, aspartame, already classified as “possibly carcinogenic” by the International Cancer Research Center of the WHO.
Source: www.usinenouvelle.com
