KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 2 — Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said today infant formula will be excluded from the proposed sugar tax expansion that includes premixed beverages.
During a press conference today, he said he will urge the Customs Department to separate the infant formula’s code from other premix beverages including chocolate-based drinks, tea and coffee.
“There’s been some representations by the industry because the code for infant formula is the same as other sugared premix beverages.
“So we realised that these are unfairly taxes, so we have asked the customs to have the infant formula code to be separated,” he said.
During the tabling of Budget 2022 last year, Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz had announced that the government intended to extend the imposition of excise duty on sugary beverage products in the form of chocolate or cocoa-based premixes, malt, coffee and tea.
The Sugar Tax was introduced in 2019 and is applicable at the rate of RM0.40 per litre on SSB, where the total sugar content of the beverage exceeds 5 grams/100ml.
