糖税真来了？饮料商哭了！

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2020年07月24日

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糖税真来了？饮料商哭了！

英国财政大臣奥斯本（Osborne）在其年度预算报告中正式提及向含糖饮品制造商开征糖税，打击儿童肥胖问题。而各种饮料制造商表示：能不能帮助减少小胖子我不知道，反正是更容易导致工人失业！只能说，英国为了体重问题，真的蛮拼的……

测试中可能遇到的词汇和知识：

Budget 财政预算案['bʌdʒɪt]

exempt 免税者；被免除的[ɪg'zem(p)t; eg-]

own-label 自有品牌

reformulate 改订[,ri'fɔrmjulet]

Treasury 国库；财政部['treʒ(ə)rɪ]

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Sugar tax attacked by soft-drink makers after Budget（530 words）

By Scheherazade Daneshkhu, Sarah Neville and Jim Pickard

* * *

Makers of soft drinks have criticised the imposition of a sugar tax on them, saying their industry had been singled out and that the levy is more likely to cause job losses than make children less obese.

Chancellor George Osborne said in his Budget that the tax would be introduced in 2018 and will be levied in two bands: one for total sugar content above 5 grams per 100ml and a second, higher band for the most sugary drinks with more than 8g per 100ml.

Drinks with less than 5g of sugar per 100ml will be exempt, sparing the likes of Lucozade Sport, Volvic Touch of Fruit and Morrison’s own-label lemonade.

The tax rate has yet to be decided and companies have the intervening two years to reformulate their drinks in order to minimise the tax’s impact, or avoid it altogether. Nevertheless, the Treasury expects the levy to raise £520m in the first year — money that the chancellor said would be spent on doubling funding for sport in primary schools.

Mr Osborne said he did not want to look back and say to his children’s generation: “I’m sorry. We knew there was a problem with sugary drinks. We knew it caused disease. But we ducked the difficult decisions and we did nothing.”

Ian Wright, director-general of the Food and Drink Federation, called the announcement “a piece of political theatre” and said the tax would lead to “less innovation and product reformulation, and for some manufacturers is certain to cost jobs. Nor will it make a difference to obesity.”

Analysts pointed out that sugary soft drinks are not the only type of unhealthy food and drink.

“Sugar isn’t the only unhealthy ingredient if consumed in excess,” said Daniel Lyons, indirect tax partner at Deloitte. “This arguably marks the first step towards the government tackling potentially unhealthy foods through tax measures. It’s possible that in future we will see an extension of this in tax to other foods that also potentially encourage unhealthy eating.”

Gavin Partington, director-general of the British Soft Drinks Association, said it was unfair to single out the industry. Soft drinks were the “only category in the food and drink sector which has consistently reduced sugar intake in recent years: down 13.6 per cent since 2012. By contrast, sugar and calorie intake from all other major take-home food categories is increasing, which makes the targeting of soft drinks simply absurd,” he said.

However, Simon Stevens, head of NHS England, who has been among those exerting pressure on government, said: “This bold and welcome action will send a powerful signal and incentivise soft drinks companies to act on the health consequences of their products.”

High-profile campaigners include Jamie Oliver, the celebrity chef who had urged the prime minister to “be brave” and implement a levy. He posted on Instagram after the chancellor’s announcement: “We did it! A sugar levy on sugary sweetened drinks . . . A profound move that will ripple around the world.”

The food and drinks industry cites evidence that a sugar tax woulds not change consumer behaviour to anything like the degree to which its supporters claim of similar taxes imposed in Mexico and France.

请根据你所读到的文章内容，完成以下自测题目：

1. When the sugar tax would be introduced as Osborne said?

a. 2017

b. 2016

c. 2018

d. 2010

2. How to spend the money about £520m as the chancellor said?

a. to solve the financial crisis

b. to adjust students’ diet

c. to double funding for sport in universities

d. to encourage primary students to strengthen the sport

3. How to describe the tax action from Gavin Partington, the director-general of the British Soft Drinks Association?