About 120 countries and territories now tax sugary drinks in some form, covering more than 130 jurisdictions worldwide. Soda taxes by country vary widely in size and design: some charge a flat amount per liter, some scale with sugar content, and some apply a percentage of the retail price. Adoption picked up sharply after Mexico’s 2014 tax drew international attention, and the policy has since spread across every inhabited continent.
The Americas
Mexico set the modern template. In January 2014 it imposed a tax of 1 peso per liter on sugar-sweetened beverages, applied regardless of sugar concentration.1PubMed Central. After Mexico Implemented a Tax, Purchases of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Decreased and Water Increased In late 2025, Mexico’s Congress approved a rate increase that roughly doubled the per-liter charge.
Chile tied its beverage tax to sugar content in 2014. Drinks with more than 6.25 grams of sugar per 100 milliliters pay 18%, and those at or below that threshold pay 10%.2Global Food Research Program. Using Chile’s Warning Label Criteria to Tax Foods and Drinks: Potential Effects on Prices, Purchases, and Revenues Before the change, all soft drinks were taxed at a flat 13%.
Barbados introduced a 10% excise tax on sweetened beverages in August 2015, then doubled it to 20% in April 2022.3Global Food Research Program. 20% Excise Tax on Sweetened Beverages Colombia added a health tax in November 2023 on ultra-processed sugary beverages exceeding 6 grams of added sugar per 100 milliliters, phased in through 2025.4Georgetown Global Food Laws. Law Adopting a Tax Reform for Equality and Social Justice (Law No 2277) Dominica, Ecuador, and Peru have also enacted sweetened beverage taxes.
Canada has moved at the provincial level. British Columbia removed its sales tax exemption for sweetened carbonated beverages on April 1, 2021, so its 7% provincial sales tax now applies to sodas, fountain drinks, and vending machine beverages.5Government of British Columbia. 2020 Budget Tax Changes Newfoundland and Labrador ran a dedicated per-liter tax but repealed it effective July 1, 2025.6Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. Government of Newfoundland and Labrador Eliminates the Sugar Sweetened Beverage Tax
Europe
France was an early mover, taxing sweetened nonalcoholic drinks from January 2012 at €0.0716 per liter, and unusually applying the charge to both sugar-sweetened and artificially sweetened beverages.7Toulouse School of Economics. The Impact of the French Soda Tax on Prices and Purchases: An Ex Post Evaluation France later reformed the tax into a tiered system that charges more per additional gram of sugar.
The United Kingdom’s Soft Drinks Industry Levy took effect in April 2018.8GOV.UK. Soft Drinks Industry Levy Drinks with 5 to 8 grams of sugar per 100 milliliters pay 19.4 pence per liter, and drinks at 8 grams or above pay 25.9 pence per liter.9GOV.UK. Soft Drinks Industry Levy Statistics Commentary 2026 The levy falls on producers and importers, and many manufacturers reformulated below the 5-gram threshold before it even took effect.
Ireland uses a nearly identical two-tier design, charging €16.26 per hectoliter on drinks with 5 to 8 grams of sugar per 100 milliliters and €24.39 per hectoliter at or above 8 grams.10Revenue – Irish Tax and Customs. Sugar Sweetened Drinks Tax – Excise Duty Rates Portugal introduced a two-tier tax in 2017 keyed to whether sugar content is above or below 80 grams per liter. Poland added a sugar tax on soft and energy drinks in 2021; prices rose by an average of 36% and carbonated beverage sales dropped roughly 20%.11National Center for Biotechnology Information. The Impact of the Sweetened Beverages Tax on Their Reformulation in Poland Hungary has had a public health product tax on high-sugar drinks and other unhealthy foods since 2011. Norway’s general sugar tax dates back to 1922 and was significantly increased in 2018.
Middle East and Africa
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates both introduced excise taxes in 2017 as part of coordinated Gulf Cooperation Council reforms. Saudi Arabia applies 50% on carbonated soft drinks and 100% on energy drinks, and extended the tax to other sweetened beverages in 2019.12Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority. Goods Subject to Excise Tax
Effective January 2026, the UAE shifted from a flat percentage to a tiered-volumetric model. Drinks with 8 grams or more of sugar per 100 milliliters pay AED 1.09 per liter, drinks with 5 to 8 grams pay AED 0.97 per liter, and drinks below 5 grams or sweetened only with artificial sweeteners pay nothing. Energy drinks remain taxed at 100% of retail price.13UAE Federal Tax Authority. Calculating Excise Tax According to a Tiered-Volumetric Model for Sweetened Drinks
South Africa’s Health Promotion Levy, effective April 2018, charges 2.1 South African cents for each gram of sugar above 4 grams per 100 milliliters, with the first 4 grams levy-free.14South African Revenue Service. Health Promotion Levy on Sugary Beverages A drink at exactly 4 grams per 100 milliliters pays nothing; a drink at 10 grams pays on 6 grams. Morocco, Mauritius, and the Seychelles have adopted their own versions.
Asia and the Pacific
India carries one of the heaviest burdens on aerated drinks. Carbonated beverages face a 28% goods and services tax plus an additional 12% compensation cess, for a combined 40%. The Philippines enacted its tax in January 2018, charging ₱6 per liter on drinks using caloric or noncaloric sweeteners and ₱12 per liter on drinks made with high-fructose corn syrup; beverages sweetened only with coconut sap sugar or stevia are exempt.15Bureau of Internal Revenue (Philippines). Revenue Regulations No. 20-2018
Thailand’s tiered sugar tax has been phased in over several years, with its fourth and final phase taking full effect in April 2025. Manufacturers that don’t cut sugar face rates up to 5 baht per liter. Brunei, Sri Lanka, Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa also tax sweetened beverages.
The United States
There is no federal soda tax. A handful of cities collect their own, generally from distributors rather than at the register.16Tax Policy Center. How Do State and Local Soda Taxes Work The District of Columbia takes a different route, charging 8% sales tax on sweetened drinks instead of its standard 6%.
- Boulder, Colorado: 2 cents per ounce
- Seattle, Washington: 1.75 cents per ounce
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: 1.5 cents per ounce, covering both sugar-sweetened and artificially sweetened drinks
- Berkeley, Oakland, San Francisco, and Albany, California: 1 cent per ounce
Expansion has largely stalled. At least four states have passed preemption laws barring local governments from enacting new beverage taxes. Two of those states, California and Washington, already had active local taxes when the preemption laws passed, so existing taxes were grandfathered while new ones were blocked.
How the Taxes Are Structured
The design of a soda tax shapes how it changes behavior. Three broad models dominate.
Volumetric
A volumetric tax charges a fixed amount per unit of liquid, usually per ounce or per liter. Mexico’s peso-per-liter tax and every active U.S. local soda tax use this model.1PubMed Central. After Mexico Implemented a Tax, Purchases of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Decreased and Water Increased It is simple to administer because no sugar analysis is needed, but a lightly sweetened iced tea pays the same rate as a heavily sugared cola of the same size, so it creates no reformulation incentive. For fountain concentrates and syrups, the tax is usually calculated on the maximum diluted volume.16Tax Policy Center. How Do State and Local Soda Taxes Work
Tiered and Sugar-Content
Tiered taxes set rate thresholds based on sugar concentration. The UK levy is the best-known example: nothing below 5 grams per 100 milliliters, a standard rate from 5 to 8 grams, and a higher rate at or above 8 grams.8GOV.UK. Soft Drinks Industry Levy France uses a continuous model that increases the charge for each additional gram of sugar. South Africa’s per-gram levy above a 4-gram floor works similarly.14South African Revenue Service. Health Promotion Levy on Sugary Beverages These designs give manufacturers a direct financial reason to reduce sugar, and the UK saw widespread reformulation before its levy even took effect.
Ad Valorem
An ad valorem tax is a percentage of the drink’s price rather than a fixed charge per volume or gram. Chile’s 18%/10% split and India’s 40% combined rate follow this model.2Global Food Research Program. Using Chile’s Warning Label Criteria to Tax Foods and Drinks: Potential Effects on Prices, Purchases, and Revenues More expensive drinks generate more revenue, but the tax amount in cash terms varies by product, so the price signal is less consistent than a flat per-unit charge.
Whatever the design, most soda taxes are excise taxes collected from distributors or importers, not sales taxes charged at the register. Distributors remit when they deliver to retailers, and retailers generally pass most of the cost through in shelf prices.16Tax Policy Center. How Do State and Local Soda Taxes Work
What Gets Taxed and What Doesn’t
Exemptions look similar across jurisdictions. Pure milk and beverages where milk is the primary ingredient are almost universally exempt. Infant formula, medical nutritional drinks, and meal-replacement beverages are typically excluded. Natural fruit and vegetable juices without added sweeteners usually escape the tax, as do alcoholic beverages, which fall under separate excise regimes.
The biggest policy split is over diet drinks. Most soda taxes target only beverages with caloric sweeteners like sugar or high-fructose corn syrup, leaving artificially sweetened diet sodas alone. France and Philadelphia are notable exceptions that tax both. The case for including diet drinks is that the tax discourages all sweetened-beverage consumption; the case against is that taxing zero-calorie alternatives weakens the health rationale and removes a cheaper substitute for people trying to cut sugar.
Do These Taxes Actually Cut Consumption?
Yes, with caveats. Evaluations across at least five U.S. jurisdictions and seven countries have found that soda taxes reduce purchases and sales of taxed beverages.17PubMed Central. Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Taxes and Population Health Outcomes Mexico is the most studied case: purchases fell, water consumption rose, and researchers found a lower risk of excess weight among adolescents in cities where soda prices rose by more than 10%. Poland’s 2021 tax produced a 20% drop in carbonated beverage sales alongside a 36% average price increase.11National Center for Biotechnology Information. The Impact of the Sweetened Beverages Tax on Their Reformulation in Poland
Long-term health outcomes are harder to pin down, largely because obesity and diabetes develop over decades while most of these taxes are less than ten years old. Where taxes are tiered, reformulation may matter as much as the drop in consumption. When manufacturers cut sugar to fall under a higher bracket, the sugar content of drinks on shelves falls even for buyers whose habits haven’t changed.
The Regressivity Question
The most persistent criticism is that soda taxes are regressive. Lower-income households spend a greater share of their income on taxed drinks, so the tax hits them harder in proportional terms, and every study of the question confirms the pattern.18PubMed Central. The Impact of a Tax on Sugar-Sweetened Beverages According to Socio-Economic Position In dollar terms the gap is small. Research consistently finds both low-income and high-income households pay roughly $15 to $20 per year in soda tax, with low-income households paying only a few dollars more.
Supporters argue the same distribution cuts the other way for health. Type 2 diabetes and tooth decay also fall disproportionately on lower-income communities, so a tax that reduces sugary drink consumption may deliver larger health benefits to the people paying more of it. Many jurisdictions reinforce that argument by earmarking revenue for early childhood nutrition, subsidized healthy food access, and public health education. Whether the tradeoff is fair remains one of the central disputes wherever these taxes are debated.