Estonia Not Ready for Sugar Tax, Says Minister
Agriculture Minister Helir-Valdor Seeder said that Estonian society is not yet ready for special tax on very salty, sweet or fatty foods.
He told Eesti Päevaleht today that awareness should be raised instead, citing a recent study showing that children are plagued by misconceptions about energy drinks.
The minister had previously supported such a tax, but now says that similar experiments in Finland and Denmark have backfired. He added that no ideal solutions have been found yet.
Denmark was the first nation to introduce a tax on trams fats, while Finland restored a tax on sweets in 2011 that had existed until 1999.
Critics have said that the food industry in Denmark is replacing fat with sugar, while considerable evidence exists that some products that contain added sugar, like dark chocolate, can have health benefits.