El junk food tax was announced by Alberto Garzón, Minister of Consumer Affairs, just a few weeks after taking office. Since then, it has done nothing but create controversy. However, the minister's team has already been preparing the royal decree which will contain the measure in question. The IVA will go from a 10% to 21% across unhealthy products, while that of healthy products will be reduced from 10-4% to 0%. As the preparations progress, the alarms go off more and more. If you want to know more…. Keep reading!
Junk food tax
The figures on childhood obesity are increasingly worrying. According to him Aladdin Report (2019) el 40,6% of the kids (6-9 years) suffers over weight. Of them a 23,3% has overweight or with a 17,3% suffer obesity. To remedy or significantly reduce this data, Garzón intends to impose certain measures. One of them, which has had a great impact, is increase taxation of considered products insane, specifically, the sugary drinks. Thus, he recognized it in an interview in La Sexta:
We will reduce the impact of junk food by establishing clear obligations in the labeling (…) As well as a review of the taxation of ultra-processed foods or foods rich in fats and sugars
La Federation of the Food Industry has expressed outrage at the way the announcement was made. They consider that almost an entire sector was criminalized. And, in addition, they consider that the measure has a tax collection effort. There is also doubt that a tax increase will significantly change the way people consume. The measure would involve both consumers, as to producers. Consumers would be affected by higher product prices and producers would be forced to include nutritional labels in all your foods.
It was already contemplated in the government pact signed by the PSOE and Podemos. The agreement between Pedro Sánchez y Paul Iglesias, qualified Rights of consumers, proposes the objective in one of its sections:
Reduce the impact of junk food, by establishing clear obligations in the labeling, which should reflect the quality of the products according to the nutritional traffic light model, as well as a review of the taxation of ultra-processed foods or foods rich in fats and sugars
Regulation of junk food advertising
La last bomb What has been talked about is the new measure announced by the Minister of Consumer Affairs a few days ago. Restrict or prohibit advertising of unhealthy foods and beverages directed at the public Infant. The measure includes both media As the social networks. There are two alternatives to carry out the initiative.
The first consists of negotiating with the main social networks (Tik Tok, Instagram, Facebook or Twitter) so that they themselves self-regulate the advertising of this type of products. Through this channel the sanctioning power It concerns the National Commission of Markets and Competition. However, self-regulation has not been very successful, at least in our country. For this reason, Garzón proposes another option: the power to sanction belongs to the Government. At the same time, two options are being considered.
See this post on Instagram
- Prohibit the advertising of products that are part of X nutritional profile, which would be determined according to the scale Nutriscore. Despite the controversy that revolves around this system of categorization of supermarket products as Eroski they use it in their physical stores. However, any other system recommended by the WHO.
- Ban television advertising of unhealthy foods in children's time slots.
What do the experts think?
Alberto Garzón insists that scientists consider that advertising has a considerable impact on children's behavior. And, therefore, he believes that it is key to attack the problem through this route. On the other hand, experts also consider that the problem of obesity should also be treated from other points of view: sedentary lifestyle and physical exercise, for example. What do you think of the junk food tax? Do you think it will have a real impact? Tell us what you think in the comments.
