Sugar Tax

[securespark]

Sainsburys are now selling their own-brand Alphonso Mango and apple squash (and other sugary drinks) with a sizeable increase on the price pre-sugar tax.

Yet their own brand soft drinks (eg cola, lemonade, bitter lemon and ginger ale) are the same price whether you buy the "full-fat" or the diet variety. A quick look on the labels confirms all the "full-fat" varieties feature sugar high up on the ingredients list.

Why is this?

Meanwhile, over at competitor Tesco, they have revised their meal deal to offer reduced size bottles of drink (375ml as compares the previous 500ml), yet the £3 price remains the same.

 

[Ian H]

I couldn't have a full fat coke with my meal in Subway, it's not even on the menu any more. I think the ****e they put in the diet stuff will do more hard long term.

 

[SirGalahad]

Reducing sugar intake is a positive step but not when it's replaced with artificial sweeteners like aspartame.

I've never bought low fat low sugar anything. I have enough will power to have them sparingly.

 

[HawkEye244]

It's all about genetics unfortunately. Some people cannot cope with a high sugar diet, others can do comfortably.

The sad thing is that to those that don't eat sugary foods, who can't process it well, people like myself, it won't make the blindest bit of difference because I still wouldn't be any more likely to eat that stuff.

To those that do, it's going to mean a bunch of other crap probably even worse than sugar itself, as others have said.

I think it's less about health and more about tax. Like most legislation.

 

[ReganAndCarter]

Why do the idiots who run this country always dress up their need to grab ever larger amounts of our money as some kind of false concern for our wellbeing? The tax on ciggies obviously isn't grabbing enough these days, so they need to target something else that ordinary people enjoy. They just don't know what to tax next. Pathetic!

 

[Mike10]

I think it's less about health and more about tax. Like most legislation.

Personally, I think it is more that they need to be seen to do something in order to appease the campaign groups and people putting pressure on them to 'do something about the obesity crisis'.
Governments have a limited arsenal of fairly blunt objects when it comes to actually doing anything, the quick fix for them is a tax, rather than education and changing social attitudes which takes too long, and then they can say "we've done something about it" (the fact it gets them extra money is just the cherry on top for them and makes it a win/win).

 

[sodthisforfun]

Decent flavour tomatoes - about 5 or 6 in a punnet is twice the price (sometimes more) than a bag of 5 donuts at tesco. I went shopping tonight and picked up a couple of pink ladies (!) apples and they were 89p each. The cost of these 2 apples could buy me 14 donuts.

If this government or supermarkets or anyone had even the slightest bit of concern over us mere mortals health then it wouldn't be the case that to eat healthily is more expensive than to eat junk.

 

[JohnD]

If this government or supermarkets or anyone had even the slightest bit of concern over us mere mortals health then it wouldn't be the case that to eat healthily is more expensive than to eat junk.

You mean somebody should subsidise the tomatoes? Or put extra tax on the doughnuts?

 

[securespark]

Both.

 

[sodthisforfun]

Perhaps they should use the extra sugar tax to subsidise fresh healthy products. But I doubt it because, as I said, nobody really cares about us.

I've never understood why something that is processed is so much cheaper. I know preservatives and mass production lower costs but how is it that a bag of donuts is 65p and one apple is 89p? Someone still had to farm the flour, eggs, sugar, fruit, make the jam, oil and the butter to make a donut. Then the production costs. An apple required being picked from a tree.

 

[Mike10]

An apple required being picked from a tree.

That apple was probably picked from the tree last September and since then it has been stored (expensively) under very precise conditions or it has been transported from the southern hemisphere.

 

[sodthisforfun]

I appreciate that, but I don't seem to see the prices of apples go down in the Autumn when could be eating in season.

 

[SirGalahad]

Why do the idiots who run this country always dress up their need to grab ever larger amounts of our money as some kind of false concern for our wellbeing? The tax on ciggies obviously isn't grabbing enough these days, so they need to target something else that ordinary people enjoy. They just don't know what to tax next. Pathetic!

It's not difficult I posted this before. If you want to tax corporation less then the tax burden shifts to the individual and/or you get cuts in services.

So the tax moves to individual either directly through increases in your income taxes or indirectly through taxes on consumption. Consumption taxes fall more unevenly in favour against those on lower incomes.

But you already knew this and voted for it.

 

[SirGalahad]

Decent flavour tomatoes - about 5 or 6 in a punnet is twice the price (sometimes more) than a bag of 5 donuts at tesco. I went shopping tonight and picked up a couple of pink ladies (!) apples and they were 89p each. The cost of these 2 apples could buy me 14 donuts.

If this government or supermarkets or anyone had even the slightest bit of concern over us mere mortals health then it wouldn't be the case that to eat healthily is more expensive than to eat junk.

Free market.

 

[JohnD]

I appreciate that, but I don't seem to see the prices of apples go down in the Autumn when could be eating in season.

A local fruit farmer told me he dumps more apples than he sells.

customers don't like buying many blemished apples, and they ripen over a relatively short period, so there is a glut and prices fall so far that they fetch less than it costs to harvest, sort, pack and transport.

As you know, the anti-foreigner environment encouraged by our current government and the Quitters has led to a shortage of visiting seasonal workers, so it's getting worse.

perhaps if you find a local fruit farm you could buy a crate in Autumn and rack them in your shed. Or if you offer to work 14-hour days as a picker you can help yourself.