French brewers fear extra taxes on sugar and alcohol could spike price of beer

Published 2024년 11월 3일

Tridge summary

France's new budget is facing opposition from the brewing industry due to proposals to increase taxes on alcoholic and sweetened drinks. The taxes are intended to raise funds for the health system but independent breweries argue they could not afford the extra costs and warn they could drive hundreds of companies out of business. The taxes include expanding social security contributions to all alcohols, introducing a new duty on beers stronger than 5.5 percent, and taxing sweetened beers with at least 20 grams of sugar per litre. The brewing industry contends that the taxes could protect industrial beers at the expense of craft brews, ultimately amplifying the industry's struggle with higher energy prices and raw material costs.

Disclaimer:The above summary was generated by Tridge's proprietary AI model for informational purposes.

Original content

Brewers are struggling to swallow proposals to increase taxes on alcoholic and sweetened drinks under France's latest budget, currently being debated by parliament. While supporters say the measures would raise much-needed funds for the French health system, beer makers warn they could end up penalising independent breweries already finding it tough to survive. Under pressure to reduce France's mammoth deficit, the new government is looking for ways to save billions of euros on social security – and raising duties on potentially unhealthy food and drink looks set to be part of the plan. Members of parliament have proposed amendments to the funding bill that would target alcohol and processed sugar, and specifically high-strength, sweetened beers. The farthest-reaching proposal would expand the “social security contribution” levied on certain products and allocated to funding national health insurance. Currently applied only to drinks with an alcohol content of 18 percent or more, ...

Source: Modernghana