Sugar Industry Regulations threaten Lyle’s Golden Syrup

[Mike Nolan]

This story on the Wall Street Journal page talks about changes in the sugar industry.

Revised: This link might work better
Sugar Story

One of the companies that may be affected is Tate & Lyle, the UK's largest sugar refiner and the manufacturer of Lyle's Golden Syrup.

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• This topic was modified 8 years, 7 months ago by Mike Nolan.

[S_Wirth]

Cannot read the story. Says Subscribe or Sign In.

Illinois, a few years back, started a sugar tax so they could grab more bucks. We have a sales tax # for our businesses and they sent us a list of the new foods and drinks the new gouges would come up on. Husband bought a 3 ounce box of chocolate covered raisins a few weeks ago and it went for high tax.

Our school district, this past March primary election, asked the voters for a 1% tax hike on the usual 6.25% items and they got it. So, now beginning 7/1/16, we pay 7.25%. I don't buy candy for us but I do buy a lot of it for my nursing home buddies each month when I take them many boxes of goodies. Rice Krispie treats also went for high tax that we bought for the nursing home goodies recently.

The state's logic was the tax would keep people from buying soda and candy which are bad for them.

[Mike Nolan]

I wasn't sure if that link would work, good to know what works and what doesn't. I was half-way expecting that WSJ story to morph into the Brexit issue when they brought up Tate & Lyle.

Taxing to discourage consumption has a mixed track record. Some folks think it worked well for smoking, but some states have become dependent on those taxes and are seeing declines in tobacco taxes affecting their state budgets.

The soda tax hasn't appeared to work as well where it's been used, and it's unlikely that they'll be able to raise the taxes to the point where demand becomes truly elastic--restaurants make huge profits on soft drinks, too.

The shopping center nearest us just got a 1% increase on sales tax (on everything except food, I think) so they can help pay for Scheels to build a huge new store, complete with a Ferris Wheel inside and put up a parking garage where the current Scheels (not small) is. :sigh:

Best line I read all weekend: How can you tell macroeconomists have a sense of humor? They use decimal points.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 7 months ago by Mike Nolan.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 7 months ago by Mike Nolan.

[S_Wirth]

IL has 1% on foods and drugs. Some agriculture chemicals/seeds and some feeds are tax free. We buy shelled corn and cracked corn and there is no tax. Sunflower seeds go for 6.25% tax. They say sunflower seed is not feed...however Google has articles saying many feed horses sunflower seed so it seems like feed to me.

We'll never win!

[BakerAunt]

When they try to take my Lyle's Golden syrup, they have gone too far!

[Mike Nolan]

Here's the key section:

Meanwhile, restrictions on cane-sugar imports into the EU will remain. The combination could squeeze importers like Tate & Lyle Sugars, whose London refinery has been turning cane sugar into sweetener for 138 years.

“The clock’s ticking for us,” said Gerald Mason, a vice president of Tate & Lyle as he watched a crane unload a 35,000-ton shipment of sugar. “We are not going to be competitive after 2017 unless the regulation is changed.”

• This reply was modified 8 years, 7 months ago by Mike Nolan.

[S_Wirth]

Very sad about the companies faced with this ordeal overseas.

More on our sugar tax. IL residents have paid 6.25% tax on all sugar type drinks for several years. It will be 7.25% in our county 7/1. Today, we were met with this news:

Scrambling to find new sources of money, the Illinois legislature is considering a tax on sugary drinks. The proposed tax would impose a penny per ounce tax on sugar-sweetened beverages, syrups or powders. If imposed, the measure would generate up to $600 million a year in new revenue.

It won't cost us a cent as we don't buy anything like those items but most folks do purchase these things. Evidently a lot of folks!

[Mike Nolan]

I updated the link in the first post in this thread to one that should work more more people.

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