Sugar tax: Assobibe, uncertainty blocks over a billion in investments

The uncertainty over the sugar tax, the tax on soft drinks in force from January 2027 unless postponed again, blocks over 1 billion euros of investments in the sector. This is what Assobibe, the Confindustria association representing the producers of soft drinks in Italy, states, a few weeks after the start of the discussion on the Budget Law and just over three months after the entry into force of the tax set at the beginning of 2027. The sector has called together political forces and businesses at the event "Investing in growth: why overcome the sugar tax and new taxes", a discussion to analyze the economic-social impacts of a measure that risks fueling further uncertainty for the entire supply chain and its related activities.

"For almost seven years we have been living under the sword of Damocles of a tax that never really came into force - said the president of Assobibe, Giangiacomo Pierini - over a billion in investments that companies could dedicate to innovation and employment are blocked. The time to decide has come: we ask the institutions for a definitive commitment to cancel the sugar tax, not its ninth extension". The numbers confirm the validity of these concerns.

The introduction of the sugar tax would lead to an increase in taxation of 28% on each liter produced, with a contraction in sales, according to Nomisma estimates, of 16% in the two years following its entry into force. An effect that would translate into a 10% cut in turnover and a 12% value of activities and investments. The related industries would also be affected, with a drop in purchases of raw materials exceeding 400 million euros, while on the employment front, over 5 thousand jobs would be at risk. A paradox would also arise on the fiscal front: given the new levy, the lost VAT revenue linked to the drop in consumption would reach 275 million, partially reducing the very objective of the measure.