Sugar tax to finance National Health Fund campaigns

Funds coming from a new sugar tax will go to the National Health Fund (NFZ) and will be spent on the effects of civilisational diseases, namely, diabetes, heart and vascular diseases as well as oncological illnesses, the health minister announced on Thursday.

Last week, Poland's Sejm (lower house) adopted a bill introducing taxes on small bottles of alcohol (up to 300 ml) and sugary drinks.

The proposed surcharges on sugary and energy drinks will be fixed and variable. The fixed surcharge will be PLN 0.5 (EUR 0.12) per litre of drinks with added sugar or sweeteners, and PLN 0.1 (EUR 0.02) per litre of drinks with an added active substance (caffeine or taurine). The variable surcharge will be PLN 0.05 (EUR 0.01) for each gram of sugar above 5 grams/100 ml per litre of drink.

The draft law introduces surcharges on small bottles of alcohol (up to 300 ml), which are known colloquially as malpki (monkeys) in Polish. The proposed surcharge is PLN 25 (EUR 5.88) per litre of 100 pct pure alcohol sold in packaging with volumes of 300 ml and less.

Speaking to a public radio broadcaster, Minister Lukasz Szumowski said that the funds "will not go to the state budget, since the NFZ was located outside it." He also declared that the NFZ will have to report on how it uses the funds.