UPDATE: How much will be the tax on high sugar drinks | Progresiv
The Ministry of Public Finance has published on August 8th, 2019 the Ordinance introducing in the Fiscal Code the tax on soft drinks with high sugar content.
The products affected by this measure are non-alcoholic beverages packed with a high content of free sugars (most commonly used in the food industry being sugar, sucrose and maltose) - more specifically, those containing at least 5 g of free sugars / 100 ml of product.
The ordinance provides two levels of taxation, depending on the sugar content of these types of products:
I. 0.8 lei / liter for soft drinks with sugar content between 5-8 g / 100 ml product
II. 1 leu / liter for soft drinks with sugar content over 8 g / 100 ml product
For example, 100 ml of Red Bull Energy Drink contain 11 g of sucrose and glucose. This quantity of sugars is comparable to that found in 100 ml of soft drinks obtained from fruit concentrate and in cola drinks available on the Romanian market. For comparison, 100 ml of ice cream contains, on average, 16 g of sugar.
The ordinance completing the current Fiscal Code also provides for an increase in excise duty on tobacco products from 483.74 lei / 1,000 cigarettes - as it is today - to 503.97 lei / 1,000 cigarettes, starting with September 1st, 2019.