Romanian Health Minister Attila Cseke to introduce ‘fat tax’ in battle against obesity
Fast-food restaurants are bracing themselves for Europe’s first “fat tax” as the battle against obesity gathers momentum.
The Romanian Health Ministry has outlined plans to levy an extra charge on fatty, salty and sugary foods; a move that will tackle two problems simultaneously — the poor quality of its citizens’ diets and a plunging public-sector budget as a result of the recession.
Attila Cseke, the Health Minister, announced that he was setting up a nutrition commission aimed at raising £860 million from the planned tax on fast food — an extra source of revenue that would be very welcome in Bucharest. The Government’s austerity budget this week outlined a freeze in public sector pay and a cut of 100,000 jobs.
The idea of a levy on potentially harmful products is not new — duties are commonly collected on tobacco and alcohol — but the food industry has lobbied successfully against direct taxation wherever it has been suggested in the past. A “soda tax” on sugary drinks proposed by the Governor of New York was debated — and then dropped — last year, and France abandoned plans in 2008 to raise VAT on foods with high salt and sugar levels. The standard-bearer for fat taxes is Taiwan, where the Bureau of Health Promotion intends to impose extra charges on fatty foods next year.
Mr Ceske announced the Romanian initiative at a press conference in Bucharest. “We intend to introduce a tax on fast food, soft drinks and sweets in order to support national health programmes,” he said. “The new tax will be a percentage of the sale of fast-food products and the revenue will be used to increase the budgets of health programmes and fund investments into the system’s infrastructure.” He included fizzy drinks on his list of targeted foods but mineral water and natural juices are to be exempt from the tax.
According to the Romanian Society of Nutrition and Metabolic Diseases, nearly one in four of the country’s population is overweight.
The European Commission said that there was no reason why Romania, which joined the EU in 2007, should not raise taxes in this way.The largest fast-food franchise in the country is thought to be McDonald’s, with 60 restaurants. It said yesterday that it had yet to be consulted on the proposed measure.
“The draft law recently proposed by the Health Minister in Romania rightly points out that obesity poses serious public health concerns,” a spokeswoman said. However, she added: “Instead of taxation, which stigmatises certain products as unhealthy, McDonald’s supports the position of both the WHO and the EU, which view obesity as a complex and multi-factorial issue. We believe it is best addressed by providing increased choice, nutrition information and encouraging physical activity.”
A Romanian food union leader criticised the plans as counterproductive. Dragos Frumosu, president of the Food Industry Federation, said that a tax on fast food would lead to higher prices and lower sales, forcing multinational companies to move to other countries, and causing job losses in Romania.
Times Online | David Charter | Sat, January 16, 2010
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