There is already a sugar tax in Finland. I don't think its implementation caused any major problems. I was running an ice-cream business at the time and our suppliers whacked the tax straight onto the B2B price, easy. Of course, it wasn't so easy for us to pass it on to our customers, so part of that tax hit our profits. It was a stupid tax that never achieved what it set out to do (lower sugar consumption in kids) - Prisma is still selling pick and mix candy by the tonne.harryc wrote: It would be nice to tax sugar for health's sake but difficult to do technically.
http://www.foodbev.com/news/tax-increas ... L_gYkeUfD4
Finns pay an additional excise tax on sweets, ice cream and soft drinks. This sweets tax amounts to 22 cents per litre on sugar-containing soft drinks, and 11 cents per litre on sugar-free soft drinks and mineral waters.
"The sweets tax on soft drinks has accelerated the decline in sales of these beverages," said Elina Ussa, MD of the Federation of the Brewing and Soft Drinks Industry. "The tax haphazardly targets individual products. This doesn't solve national health challenges. The inclusion of sugar-free soft drinks and mineral waters in particular under the sweets tax is unreasonable. Nutrition-related national health challenges cannot be blamed on a single food or beverage, but on overall diets and lifestyles."
http://yle.fi/uutiset/sweet_tax_fails_t ... on/6992250
http://www.nacsonline.com/news/daily/pa ... L_gykeUfD4
Having said that, I do think it would be a good idea for FRESH, LOCAL (Finnish) fruit and vegetables to be exempt from VAT in the same way that berries and mushrooms are when picked in the forest. It would simply be an extension of the current legislation. Potatoes, onions, peas, turnips and swede, cucumbers, tomatoes etc etc. It would encourage people to eat fresh veg and give Finnish produce a competitive edge on imported food (and also have a positive impact on the environment). A no-brainer in my opinion.FoodDrinkEurope, the EU trade group representing the European agri-food industry, said the research findings "show that indeed food taxes do damage the competitiveness of the agri-food industry and particularly affect SMEs." "There is no conclusive evidence that taxing food and drink products for public health purposes is an effective way of changing consumer behaviour," it said, underlining the "substitution effect" where consumers switch to cheaper brands.
http://finland.fi/Public/default.aspx?c ... ture=en-US
Berries and mushrooms are also picked to sell. Demand well exceeds supply, which is mainly because there are not enough pickers and only a tiny proportion of what grows is gathered. In recent years, this shortfall has been partly filled by pickers from Estonia, Russia and Southeast Asia. Finland has universal rights which allow everyone to move freely around the countryside, to pick berries and mushrooms and to fish with a rod and line, without permits. Any money made from the sale of this natural produce is exempt from tax. The income from picking berries in years when there is a good harvest is a significant bonus for many households in eastern and northern Finland, and of course also for the pickers from abroad.
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