The European Commission has found that taxes on high-sugar, high-salt or fatty products may lead to consumers switching to cheaper products, having little effect in curbing consumption of these products. The EC report said that while such taxes reduce consumption of high-salt, sugar or fat products ‘in general’, consumers may ‘simply buy cheaper brands of the taxed products, thus potentially not lowering their consumption of the ingredient the tax aims to target’. It also noted that food taxes lead to an increase in administrative burden on businesses. When consumers switch to cheaper brands, it reduces the competitiveness of premium brand producers, the report found.
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