In its fight against obesity and child obesity, the UK government introduced the new tax to "to encourage companies to reformulate their soft drinks."
In effect, companies will need to pay 24p per liter of drink if it contains 8 grams of sugar per 100 milliliters and 18p per liter of drink if it contains between 5 — 8 grams of sugar per 100 milliliters.
READ MORE: Not So Sweet: Britain's New Sugar Tax Might Be Leaving a Bad Taste
Some soft drinks contain too much sugar 👎🏾
— HM Treasury (@hmtreasury) April 5, 2018
The #sugartax will help fight childhood obesity and fund sports 🏀 and breakfast clubs 🍎, helping our kids stay healthy 🙌🏽 https://t.co/LEuHtx5o1l pic.twitter.com/k9tihkZXAo
In protest to the new levy, Brits took to social media to express their 'customer dissatisfaction.'
The worse thing about the #sugartax is the chemicals the drinks corps will now use instead of sugar are worse then sugar itself. If you educate people that sugary drinks should only be drunk in moderation, and should not be part of a child’s diet, all would be fine! #nannystate
— Sammy Jade 🌸 (@sammyyjadee) April 5, 2018
Dear @RibenaUK if I wanted sweeteners in my Ribena I would buy the sugar free version.. I don’t because Sweetners upset my stomach. I would sooner pay a little bit more I won’t be buying you again #sugartax
— kals (@KalsHealthyEats) March 30, 2018
I can't help thinking that reducing sugar in stuff by replacing it with artificial chemical sweeteners is sort of missing the point… #sugartax
— Tattooed Mummy (@tattooed_mummy) April 3, 2018
Ah the #SugarTax. Another way for the interferring namby-pamby PC Nanny State to screw us over and force us to make changes by sticking a tax on it, or force companies to change recipes for the worse. And there was me thinking we lived in a free country… #ScrapTheSugarTax pic.twitter.com/107S4I5zp1
— Sean Pearson (@pearsonmeist) April 2, 2018
#sugartax I don't want to consume aspartame it tastes vile and upsets my stomach. I'll just dilute fruit juice with soda water to get my fizzy fix. Which of course contains more sugar than regular fizzy drinks.
— Susannah 🦂 (@PlusTardFD) April 5, 2018
Same price, but different sizes… SORRY, but I like full fat coke, I don’t like the taste of Diet Coke, so why am I being punished by sugar tax!?! 😡 #sugartax #cocacola #dietcoke pic.twitter.com/vV8uUslCbo
— JulianButler75 (@JulianButler75) March 28, 2018
There is no correlation between fizzy drinks and obesity. The new #sugartax is just a way of getting money out of the poor https://t.co/gl270eFSrW
— IEA (@iealondon) April 5, 2018
So why weren't we all fat in the 70s and 80s, drank plenty of soft drinks then. Maybe you're wrong and just like the tax. @OHA_updates #sugartax
— John Burke (@jfb_smoggy) April 5, 2018
Other, however, were eager to remind the online community about the dangers of obesity and omnipresent sugar.
People crying over the #sugartax is hilarious. 😂 Being the most obese country in Europe is nothing to be proud of.
— Jade (@giggsysgirl) April 5, 2018
People seem to be moaning they will have to pay the #sugartax to avoid artificial sweeteners. But sugary drinks almost always also contain artificial sweeteners as well as sugar. So the ONLY way to avoid them is to drink water, or squeeze your own fruit.
— Louise Ann Ellis-Davies (@louanndavies) April 5, 2018
I wish we had a sugar tax in Germany. Not on candy or chocolates — people know sugar is in there — but on drinks, like in UK, and on any food that is not candy. Dairy products like joghurt, ready-meals, pasta sauces, canned foods, etc. All things sugar does not belong. #sugartax
— Anna (@Krisenkindt) April 2, 2018
