Germany's Chancellery has provisionally halted Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil's proposal to introduce a tax on sweetened drinks. The office said the proposal, in its current form, does not have majority support in the federal government. The dispute also concerns his deviations from the recommendations of the Health Finance Commission. Tagesschau ↗
Klingbeil, who is also vice-chancellor and chair of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, nevertheless insists on the plan. He expects the coalition parties to reach a quick agreement and maintains that introducing the tax remains the government's goal. According to current estimates, the tax was expected to bring the state roughly one billion euros a year. Spiegel.de ↗
The disagreement arose between the Chancellery and the federal Finance Ministry, partly because of differing expectations about the revenue from the new tax. The ministry is looking for additional sources to cover large budget deficits, and tax revenue should help mainly in the health sector. Der Standard ↗
The organization Foodwatch and representatives of doctors criticized the provisional halt of the project. According to the consumer organization, the coalition dispute benefits the sugar industry lobby. It also pointed out that the original agreement between the Conservative Union and the Social Democrats included the introduction of the tax. Deutschlandfunk ↗
The Chancellery later said that it had not completely rejected the proposal. The coalition will therefore have to align its form with the commission's recommendations and agree on the expected revenue. The next steps will depend on negotiations between Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Klingbeil. n-tv ↗
German Government Feuds Over Klingbeil's Sugar Tax
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