FG imposes N10 Per litre tax On All Carbonated Drinks

Prices of carbonated, sweetened beverages and other non-alcoholic drinks, commonly referred to as soft drinks, are set to increase in the country as the federal government has introduced an excise duty of N10 per litre on this category of drinks.

Minister of finance, budget and national planning, Zainab Ahmed, announced this at the public presentation of the 2022 Appropriation Act on Wednesday in Abuja.

According to her, the new policy introduced is in the Finance Act signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari on December 31, 2021.

In 2019, the minister had disclosed that the government may introduce excise duty on carbonated drinks.

Excise duty is a form of tax imposed on the production, licensing and sale of goods.

Comptroller-general of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Hameed Ali, had in 2020, also canvassed the collection of excise duty on soft drinks and also proposed same in 2021 at an interactive session on the 2022-2024 medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF), organised by the House of Representatives committee on finance.

Ahmed also disclosed that the 2021 finance Act also raised excise duties and revenues for the health sector.

According to her, the excise duty on soft drinks would discourage excessive consumption of sugar beverages which contributes to diabetes and obesity among others.

“There’s now an excise duty of N10 per litre imposed on all non-alcoholic and sweetened beverages,” she said.

“And this is to discourage excessive consumption of sugar in beverages which contributes to a number of health conditions including diabetes and obesity but also used to raise excise duties and revenues for health-related and other critical expenditures. This is in line also with the 2022 budget priorities,” the minister explained.