Tax on potato chips to be imposed on caffeine in Hungary

Budapest, July 11 (Reporter Yang Yongqian) the Hungarian Parliament passed a draft law on the 11th, stipulating that from September this year, high-sugar, high-salt, high-carbohydrate or caffeine foods and some drinks will be levied "people's health product tax", commonly known as "potato chip tax".

Congress passed the draft law by a vote of 255 to 54 with 36 abstentions. According to the law, drinks with less than 25% fruit and more than 8 grams of sugar per 100 milliliters and energy drinks with more than 10 milligrams of caffeine per 100 milliliters are subject to a "potato chip tax". There is a tax of 5 forint ($0.027) per liter for drinks and 250 forint ($1.325) for energy drinks.

In addition, prepackaged sugary snacks are taxed at 100 forint ($0.53) per kilogram, snack food with more than 1 gram of salt per 100 grams, 200 forint ($1.06) per kilogram of snack food, and 200 forint ($1.06) per kilogram for food condiments with more than 5 grams of salt per 100 grams. But children's nutrition, ketchup, mustard and so on do not have to pay "potato chip tax".

The submitters of the draft law believe that the health status of Hungarian residents is in a very disadvantageous position compared with other countries and lags far behind the country's social and economic development. The purpose of this law is to increase funding for health matters by taxing products that carry health risks.

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