BARBADOS- Taxes on healthy food could be lowered government legislator

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – A government legislator has disclosed that the Government is working on lowering taxes on healthy foods.

In an interview with Barbados Today, the Minister of Energy and Business Development Senator Lisa Cummins said it has been suggested that price reductions for some healthy foods should be in the 20 to 30 percent range.

Cummins, who was speaking at the opening of the Barbados Childhood Obesity Prevention Coalition (BCOP Coalition) workshop on The Pathway to Octagonal Front of Package Warning Labels, said the time had come to review the tax structure on healthy foods.

“We are committed to working with you to see what that healthy basket of goods looks like. We are committed to seeing with you how I could pay less for healthier items upfront instead of paying a surcharge if I want to eat brown rice versus white rice if I want to eat lean versus cheap things,” she said.

“We have to make it affordable for people to eat healthy food. That is also an important part of the conversation. It is fine to label it. It is fine to say it is high in salt. Things like [packaged noodle soup], for example, which are incredibly popular, are very high in salt but inexpensive and easily accessible. We also have to make things which are healthier just as accessible, as we do things which are filling but are also going to result in cost a little later by way of the health system,” she explained.

In 2022, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Barbados (HSFB) commissioned the study, led by Deputy Principal of the UWI, Cave Hill Campus Professor Winston Moore and Lecturer Dr. Antonio Alleyne, to examine whether food prices were prohibitive to healthy eating and to recommend a policy approach to making healthy foods more affordable.

It pointed to the high tariffs attached to food imports such as fresh vegetables and fruits, compared to the low taxes placed on items high in salt, sugar, and fat, including cookies, ice cream, and chips.

It also illustrated that unhealthy foods, on average, carry an import tariff of 35 percent, while healthy foods are taxed at around 45 percent, and proposed that the Government flip the tax rates.

Cummins did not commit to a timeline for completion of the tax review but said the Government was now considering the matter and that collaboration among stakeholders would be required.