When PiS introduced the sugar tax, he expected about PLN 3 billion in budget revenues. However, due to the adaptation by the producers of beverage warehouses, i.e. the addition of juice, in the first year of application (2021) only PLN 1.6 billion was incurred, in the second – PLN 1.7 billion, in the 3rd – PLN 1.4 billion, and in the 4th – PLN 1.5 billion. Therefore, the continuation of the policy of the Law and Justice – the GO government simply decided lift the taxation rate due to the fact that ‘money must agree’.
The Tusk government raises the sugar tax. This taxation has become a tool for satisfying the fiscal appetite of successive governments, which, under the pretext of wellness policy, are increasingly interfering in business activities and draining money from our pockets.
Manufacturers began to circumvent the taxation by mixing different ingredients. According to the law, it is adequate to add 20% of juice and then add sugar and another synthetic sweeteners, e.g. aspartame or sucralose, and to stay out of charge at a lower VAT rate.
“The sweeteners are expected to be charged, but remember that if fructose (at least 20% juice and little than 5 grams of sugar per 100 ml) is added in the same beverage, you can escape from the charge. This is simply a very large inconsistency and a kind of selectivity that undermines my assessment of competitiveness.
Producers who offer zero sugar products with the same fructose-free sweeteners present must pay a fee in contrast to those who have decided to service us in fructose composition. Similarly, those who service us a different form of sugar than fructose from juice, but in the same quantity, for example, 4.9 g per 100 millilitres will pay the basic fee and the juice drink is completely exempt from it “The expert, Jakub Mishulowicz, commented.
In addition to all this, there are manilupations at VAT. Bottled mineral water is taxed at a rate of 23 percent VAT, but if we add 20% of the fruit juice to it, thus sweetening the water, the product will only be covered by 5% VAT. Adding 20% of juice to the drink will reduce the taxation rate, although mineral water is much healthier for the obesity of juice drink due to the fact that it does not contain sugar at all. Moreover, beverages with 20% fruit juice advertise themselves as ‘without added sugar’, although they contain sugar. Clear drink resembles water, yet sugar contains, only from juice.
POPiS governments follow their own logic. Since 2026, Tusk has been planning 1 of the largest increases in sugar taxation since its introduction. The fixed fee is to increase from PLN 0,50 to PLN 0,70 per litre, the variable part is to double from PLN 0,05 to PLN 0,10 and the surcharge for caffeine and taurine is to be raised from PLN 0,10 to PLN 1,00.
The full maximum sugar charge is expected to emergence from 1.20 PLN to 1.80 PLN per litre, which means an increase of 50 percent and a direct impact on beverage producers, trade and catering. This taxation strategy forces renegotiation of contracts and adjustment of accounting systems, which is peculiarly problematic for tiny companies. In the energy sector, the scale of the increase is so advanced that it undermines the underlying profitability of the full industry.
The changes besides hit the juice beverage segment, which has so far benefited from reduced treatment, which threatens to reduce request for concentrates and destabilise the orchard and processing market. Faced with these changes, the beverage marketplace after 2026 will operate under the dominance of the state taxation dictatorship, which undermines economical balance and displaces the smallest producers from the market. The biggest abroad producers who have learned to combine and add little healthy additives to their products will survive.
In this way we are not only cheated on money, but besides suffers our health.
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