Treasury to host talks on sugar tax

THE TREASURY confirmed yesterday that it would hold a stakeholder workshop in November to discuss the proposed tax on sugar sweetened beverages.This comes after the Beverages Association of South Africa (BevSA) warned last week that the proposed tax had the potential to reduce the industry’s contribution to the gross domestic product by R14 billion and might lead to about 60 000 jobs being cut. BevSA has since encouraged the Treasury to publish a socio-economic impact study on its proposed tax on sugar sweetened beverages. The Treasury said such a study would be released in due course. – ANA