Consumption taxes

Sugar tax, Government at work for extension to 1 January 2026

Under consideration is a six-month postponement of the entry into force in a decree at the end of the month. Trade associations under pressure: risk of drop in turnover and investments

by Marco Mobili and Giovanni Parente

14 May 2025

3' min read

3' min read

Government at work for a new six-month postponement for the entry into force of the Sugar tax. The idea is to move the current date of 1 July to the next 1 January 2026. The Mef and Finance Ministry technicians are working to find, above all, the coverage, and the idea would be to include the new postponement in the tax decree at the end of May.

The new extension

Created with the aim of discouraging the consumption of sugars and promoting healthier eating habits - in line with what has already been done in other European countries such as France, the United Kingdom and Hungary - the Sugar tax from 1 July 2025 was supposed to hit producers and importers of sweetened soft drinks, by applying a consumption taxof 10 euro per hectolitre on finished drinks with sweeteners and of 0.25 euro cents per kg in the case of products that are only intended to be used after being diluted.

The new extension, as mentioned, is not exactly cost-free. Postponing the entry into force of the Sugar tax by six months means having to forego revenue for the whole of 2025 estimated at around 60 million euro, at least according to the latest quantifications of the State General Accounting Office finalised for the conversion into law of the Superbonus decree (Decree 39/2024).

The requests of the affected branches

Particularly clamouring for a halt are companies in the food and beverage sector, which have been denouncing the possible negative effects of the measure for some time: an increase in production costs, impact on final prices, penalisation of small producers, and the risk of losing competitiveness compared to other countries. "It is an ideological tax, which hits only one sector without a real impact on consumption," repeated Assobibe, the association representing soft drink producers, which in recent weeks has intensified its pressure on the government to ask for a structural revision of the rule, if not its definitive cancellation.

Thousands of jobs at risk

According to data released by Assobibe, the entry into force of the Sugar Tax as it is written would put thousands of jobs at risk, especially in small and medium-sized enterprises in Southern Italy. With the entry into force of the tax, there would be a 28% tax increase on a litre of sweetened drink. Moreover, again according to the companies, the revenue for the State would not take into account the 275 million euro in lost VAT revenue linked to the possible contraction in sales in the two-year period following the entry into force of the rule, estimated by Nomisma at around 16 per cent. In addition, the Sugar tax could translate into a drop in investments of more than EUR 46 million, a drop in raw material purchases of more than EUR 400 million and a 10% cut in turnover, consequently reducing activities and investments in Italy (-12%).

So much so that businesses will flee beyond the Adriatic. "At a time when Southern Italy is struggling to attract investments, create employment and retain talent, the prospect of the introduction of the Sugar tax risks dealing a heavy blow to those entrepreneurial realities that every day choose to produce value, innovate and stay," remarked Maria Cristina Busi Ferruzzi, president of Confindustria Catania and vice-president of Assobibe, as well as head of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Albania. The concern of Italian companies is in fact that they are being penalised in comparison to neighbouring countries such as Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro, and North Macedonia.