This is Sweden calling...

Let’s talk about social responsibility. Cutting VAT from the standard-rate to the reduced-rate can and has been used to incentivise certain behaviours or the purchase of certain products. Take Sweden. Proposals from their ruling Social Democrat and Green party coalition are set to be submitted to their Parliament to cut the VAT on repairs to bicycles, clothes and shoes. We’re buying more and more products, and at the same time, product lifecycles are deliberately being made shorter to encourage increased consumption. The cut in VAT makes extending the life of existing products, as opposed to purchasing new ones, economically rational behaviour. The Swedish government saw a behaviour they wanted to encourage and have used a cut in VAT to be the driving force. It’s time for our own government to do the same with sugar. We need to encourage consumers to making healthier purchases so that sugar consumption decreases. Let’s use a cut in VAT as the driving force, making reduced sugar products cheaper to buy and subsequently encouraging their consumption.