From July, either the tax gets paid, or the drinks change.

Transcript

1. Fanta Orange, bought in Germany, has 7.6 grams of sugar per 100 ml.
2. Bought in Britain: 4.5.
3. Britain taxes sugary soft drinks from 5 grams up.
4. This week, Germany's government backed the same line.
5. If parliament agrees, from next July:
6. 26 cents a litre from 5 grams, 32 cents from 8.
7. In Germany, Fanta, Sprite, Pepsi and Coca-Cola all sit above the line.
8. On a can of Coke, that's about 11 cents of tax.
9. From July, either the tax gets paid, or the drinks change.
10. Britain's tax began in 2018, two years after it was announced.
11. In between, many drinks moved.
12. Fanta, Sprite and Irn-Bru were all cut, partly with sweeteners.
13. Today all three sit just under the line, and so does Pepsi.
14. On British supermarket websites,
15. about half the soft drinks listed were above 5 grams before the announcement.
16. By early 2019, about 15%.
17. The researchers say the tax likely pushed many makers to cut sugar.
18. And the money?
19. Britain's official forecaster first expected about £500 million a year.
20. By the start, 240 million.
21. Its biggest reason: recipes had changed faster than it assumed.
22. Since then, the tax has brought in about £330 million a year.
23. Coca-Cola stayed above the line.
24. Its bottler said it would keep the recipe.
25. In convenience stores, its big bottle got smaller, and the price went up.
26. Germany relied on voluntary cuts.
27. In 2015, soft drinks in both countries averaged 5.3 grams.
28. By 2021, Britain's were at 3.8.
29. Germany's, 5.2.
30. Coca-Cola Germany's head said in September
31. the most obvious result would be higher prices.
32. The government calls it health protection and expects prices to rise too.
33. The money is to keep health insurance contributions stable.
34. The expert commission that proposed these rates assumed
35. German recipes would change as much as Britain's:
36. about €450 million a year, give or take half.
37. In July, Berlin's health insurance law also expected recipe changes, and 450 million.
38. This week, the finance ministry said 925 million for 2028.
39. That's above the commission's whole range, and double July's.
40. Its announcement does not say what changed.
41. Every drink cut under the line is tax Berlin won't collect.
42. Whatever stays above it gets paid for, by the companies or the people who buy it.
43. Britain gave its makers two years.
44. Germany's have until July.