The government will discuss the implementation of a tax on packaged sweetened beverages (MBDK) with the House of Representatives (DPR) during the formulation of the 2023 draft state budget (RAPBN), an official has said.

According to policy analyst at the Ministry of Finance’s Fiscal Policy Agency, Sarno, the ministry is currently awaiting instructions from the Finance Minister in this regard.

During an online event held to disseminate MBDK tax policy recommendation on Thursday, he informed that, after the minister issues his instructions, the agency will promptly deliver an approval request letter to Commission XI of DPR.

According to Sarno, if the policy is quickly approved by the DPR, the tax can even become a part of the 2022 revised state budget plan.

The expansion of taxable goods to include products that contain a high amount of salt, sugar, and fat, which pose a dangerous risk to health, aligns with the mandate of the 2020–2024 Medium-Term National Development Program (RPJMN).

The imposition of a sweetened beverage tax is expected to improve the quality of human resources and strengthen economic resiliency for ensuring quality growth.

The sweetened beverage tax will be applied to beverages with sugar content that exceeds the limit set by the government with a multi-tariff scheme, he informed.

“We want beverages with higher sugar to be imposed with higher tariff. However, we also want to create a threshold. How much sugar is still safe to consume so that the tax does have not to be imposed,” he remarked.

In addition, the government is also still currently discussing the utilization of state revenues from the sweetened beverage tax.

Before it is implemented, Sarno said he expects support from various parties for the tax, especially in communicating to the people that sweetened beverages should be taxed, and not just to increase the state’s revenue.

Source: Antara News