Topics / Health
Should sugar, alcohol and ultra-processed foods be taxed more heavily?
Should the UK raise taxes on sugar, alcohol and ultra-processed foods to reduce diet and alcohol related illness, or rely instead on other measures or on individual choice? The disagreement turns partly on contested evidence about what works and partly on differing views about fairness, personal freedom and the proper role of the state.
Positions
- Yes: Sugar, alcohol and many ultra-processed foods are major drivers of preventable illness. Well-designed taxes reduce that harm and push manufacturers to make products healthier, as tobacco duties, the Soft Drinks Industry Levy and minimum unit pricing have shown.
- Regulate marketing and reformulation instead: The better route to healthier diets is to restrict the marketing of unhealthy products, especially to children, and to set mandatory standards for sugar, salt and fat content. This changes what is sold and promoted without raising prices for consumers.
- No: Taxes on sugar, alcohol and ultra-processed foods fall hardest on poorer households and treat adults as unable to make their own choices. Government should respect personal responsibility rather than use the tax system to change what people eat and drink.