Health NGO Heala says that the proposed increase in the health promotion levy (HPL) for 2023 is too small – and more products should be included in the tax.<\/p>\n
The tax, colloquially known as the \u201csugar tax\u201d, is charged on non-alcoholic sugary beverages and practically works out to about 10% of the cost per litre of sugary drinks.<\/p>\n
Fruit juices are currently exempt from the tax, but Heala said this should change.<\/p>\n
During the 2022 Budget Speech, the minister of finance Enoch Godongwana announced an increase to the HPL for beverages with more than 4g of sugar content per 100ml, from 2.21c\/g to 2.31c\/g \u2013 representing an increase of 4.5%.<\/p>\n
The increase was initially expected to take effect from 1 April 2022 but was deferred by a year to 2023.<\/p>\n
Heala noted that the HPL has not seen an increase since it was enacted in 2018 and expressed support for Treasury’s plan to hike the tax in the coming year.<\/p>\n
However, it said that the tax hike needs to be implemented sooner and needs to be at a higher rate.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe National Treasury has not given the reason for this postponement or how the decision was made. This lack of transparency and accountability is worrying, especially regarding a food policy that helps prevent unhealthy consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
The group said that the increase of just 4.5% \u2013 representing close to 15% per litre of the sugary drink \u2013 is not good enough and that the threshold of 4g of sugar content per 100ml is still too high.<\/p>\n
It has proposed the following changes to the increase in the HPL for April 2023:<\/p>\n
Heala head, Lawrence Mbalati, said that the HPL was intended to disincentivize the excessive consumption of sugar, which was seen as the driver of increasing non-communicable diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure \u2013 adding that the current proposals are not a good enough disincentive.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to strengthen this tax, as it has been shown to help prevent unhealthy consumption of SSBs and protects the public against obesity and other life-threatening non-communicable diseases (NCDs),\u201d said Mbalati.<\/p>\n
Diabetes is one of the key NCDs targetted by the tax. It is a chronic disease requiring continuous clinical care and management, which consumes significant healthcare resources.<\/p>\n