That German Sugar Tax

 This week....I asked Grok (AI) to assemble the data on the German sugar-tax deal (still in draft form) and figure the per-person cost.

So....if you kept drinking your average amount of soda....at the average end....you'd have a yearly cost of 30-to-36 Euro.  But then Grok said....you pay the sugar tax prior to the VAT....so the sugar tax-plus-VAT is around 35 to 43 Euro (per person).

But then Grok said....suppose you drink lesser sugar items (like ice tea or lemonade).....then your yearly cost is around 20 to 35 Euro.

Family of four?  Still consuming sugar drinks?  Figure in the 120 Euro range.

Enough to force a change of habit?  I pondered upon this.  With all the hyped-up cigarette taxation....there's virtually no data to suggest that people quit or lessened because of the taxes.  Some data suggests that people went to rolling their smokes (thus saving money) or crossing the border into Luxembourg to buy lesser taxed smokes.  I might go and suggest fewer than 5-percent of society cut sugar consumption.

What might happen?  In three years....new coalition....new tax strategy....perhaps doubling of the sugar tax.