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Sugar tax expansion will have ‘tiny’ effect on health: Institute for Fiscal Studies
The UK government will lower the sugar threshold and remove milk-based drink exemptions to increase levy coverage by 12%, raising up to £45 million annually.
- On Tuesday, March 25, 2026, the Institute for Fiscal Studies released research on the UK government's plan to expand the Soft Drinks Industry Levy, lowering the sugar threshold to 4.5g per 100ml and ending milk-drink exemptions from January 2028.
- The original Soft Drinks Industry Levy, implemented in April 2018, cut average per-person calorie intake by 18 kcal per day. The new expansion targets an additional 12% of soft drink litres sold to address remaining sugary consumption.
- Despite the expanded remit, IFS researchers found the reforms will reduce average per-person calorie intake by just 0.3 kcal per day, costing the average household less than 2p per week. This represents a 60-fold reduction compared to the original levy's impact.
- Co-Author Gautam Vyas, Research Economist, criticized the design, saying the levy "gets the targeting backwards" by taxing high-sugar drinks less per gram than lower-sugar alternatives. Martin Brogaard, co-author, called the reforms "small tweaks" rather than significant obesity action.
- Manufacturers previously reformulated products to stay below the 5g threshold, raising the market share of certain drinks from 2% to 8%. Industry experts anticipate similar adaptive strategies, potentially limiting the new threshold's effectiveness in reducing sugar intake.
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Expansion Of Soft Drinks Sugar Levy Expected To Have Limited Impact
The original Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL) introduced in 2018 had a sizeable effect on sugar intake in the UK, cutting average per-person calories by around 18 kcal per day. At the 2025 Autumn Budget, the government announced plans to (more…) The post Expansion Of Soft Drinks Sugar Levy Expected To Have Limited Impact appeared first on KamCity.
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