The Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion Minister Mthuli Ncube has revised the proposed tax on high sugar content beverages, saying they made a calculation error in the 2024 National Budget.
In his 2024 national budget presentation on 30 November, Ncube proposed to introduce an additional tax on sugar drinks of 2 cents per gram of sugar.
He defended the proposed tax on high sugar content beverages, saying the revenue generated would go towards creating a cancer fund.
However, responding to legislators during the debate on the budget proposals in Parliament, Ncube said the original 2 cents was a mistake, adding that it should be 0.2 cents per gram of sugar. Said Ncube:
I will now turn to the levy on sugar. On the sugar issue, I have been focusing on the cancer machines. We are determined that we must create a cancer fund to deal a cancer blow, at least ameliorate, and give some relief to our sufferers whether in the form of affordable diagnostics, drugs and all that.
In my previous life, I spent a lot of time studying the economics of HIV. I know a lot about the economics of HIV.
One clear thing is that it does have some unpleasant comorbidities. One of them is cancer. So, I feel very passionate about the issue, and that is why we need to make sure that we have support for our cancer sufferers.
I think now the machines at least in Mpilo and Harare are working and if they are not, please let me know. But now, we want to procure a gamma knife.
A gamma knife is what is needed to deal with intra-cranial cancers in your brain, in your sensitive organs and so forth. We have to move up and make sure we procure the right equipment.
We need this sugar tax to pay for some of these critical infrastructure and drugs. I must say that the original two cents, actually was a mistake, we made a mistake in that calculation, and those are the facts.
It should be 0.2%, which means that if you have a can of Coca-Cola if it is 300ml, it has got about 135 grams of sugar in it, so 0.2 cents, means an extra seven cents on that can of Coca-Cola, that is what it translates to.
I do not think seven cents is a big deal Mr. Speaker Sir. Surely that is affordable, let us support this cancer fund effort.
According to the Global Cancer Observatory, in 2020, Zimbabwe reported 10 676 deaths due to cancer. The most frequently reported cancers in the country (in 2020) included cancers of the cervix, breast, and prostate.
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