“Sugar tax” legislation has been tabled in the House of Assembly.

The Customs Tariff Amendment (No. 2) Bill includes several changes to import duty rates relating to sugar and sugar products.

A Government spokesman said: “This follows the Sugar Tax Consultation Interim Report of March 2018 which concluded that there was community support for the proposed sugar tax and that fruit juices and milk products should be excluded.

“There was also public support for a duty rate of 75 per cent and that the tax should include dilutables (cordials and powders).

“Additional feedback from the consultation regarding chocolate and diet sodas will be included in future updates to the customs tariff, as it requires further adjustments to the tariff codes.”

The Ministry of Health also released the final report of its Sugar Tax Consultation online.

The report found that 52 per cent of the 345 respondents supported taxing the included items.

10 per cent supported the tax, but believed certain items should be excluded, including raw sugar, coffee mate, yoghurt covered raisins and non-alcoholic beer.

The report found 44 per cent of respondents were against the tax.

Some of the reasons for opposing the tax included the fact there were other foods with sugar that were not part of the tax, concerns about Government regulating food and the inclusion of sports drinks which are used by athletes.

• To read the Sugar Tax Consultation report in full, click on the PDF under “Related Media”