Menu of policy options
How much money could a new levy raise?
How much any new levy will raise will depend on how the policy is designed and whether companies make their recipes healthier in order to pay less. Less money was raised from SDIL than originally expected because more companies reduced the sugar content of their drinks. Even so, over £1.8 billion has been raised since 2018, consistently bringing in around £300-350 million every year.
The National Food Strategy’s proposed industry-wide salt and sugar tax “could raise £2.9bn– £3.4bn per year for the Treasury (£2.3bn–2.8bn from sugar and £570m–£630m from salt).” A more targeted levy model (e.g. omitting basket staples) would raise less than this, of course, but could still bring in substantial revenue based on our experience with SDIL. For our menu we have chosen a figure that reflects the National Food Strategy’s proposals.
