Morning everyone.
As announced in the Budget 2013, a tax of 20 cents per gram of sugar is now applicable for soft drinks in retail outlets. According to the Government, this measure should discourage people from consuming these drinks which excessive amount of sugar contributes to diabetes, obesity and other health issues. As per some figures published in the press:
Coca Cola, Sprite and Sprite Zero :
- + Rs2.00 for 2L plastic bottles ( New price: Rs 48.00)
- + Rs1.45 for 1.5 L plastic bottles ( New price: Rs 39.95).
- + Rs1.00 for 1.0L glass bottles ( New price: Rs 20.00).
- No price change for the smaller glass bottles “chopines” ( Rs 12).
At the same time, Phoenix Beverages has also announced that following prices have been reviewed as a direct consequence of a rise in the production cost :
- 1 bottle of Phoenix beer will now be sold at Rs55.00 (+ Rs3 rise)
- 1 bottle of Guiness will now be sold at Rs65.00 (+Rs5 rise)
- No price change for cans (Rs35)
Do you think that an increase in the price of soft drinks will really make a difference in the fight against diabetes and other diseases? Personally, I find it as another way for the government to make easy money using a noble cause as a pretext.
As for beer, nothing chills better, whatever its price 🙂
Cheers!
Yashvinblogs 
Chopines and Cans too should have been hiked
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I doubt if this measure will be enough in the fight against diseases. It looks to me like an excuse to obtain taxes.
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looks? Nah its exactly an excuse to obtain taxes, if its meant to help, Mr XLD should have mentionned what will be done to the health sector or what measures he intend to take to fight against these diseases with that money!
he is just using the weakness of people to fill the government pockets so that he can waste it all ..
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They’re trying to make soft drinks a luxury rather than a regular drink. Anyway, it would’ve helped if they at least reduced the tax on other ‘healthier’ beverages.
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No matter how much you increase the price of alcohol, or cigarettes, they will always be consumed. The only way to reduce it is to make it less accessible.
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Where exactly?
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Well for the cigarettes I would have said remove it completely from the market. However I know not everyone will agree with me here. Given some will talk about cigarette being a source of economy for the country and there are also those who are addicted and won’t be able to stop it at once.
As for the alcoholic drinks, it would have been better if it is removed from the small shops or tabagie as we say it here. Frankly it is not nice at all in the first place, there are people who get drunk and they have nowhere to go so they just sleep under the verandah or sometimes they need to relive themselves in front of other people’s home. Therefore, it would have been better if alcohol was only accessible in bars which have got the facilities such as toilet and also if people are late drunk at night given that they cannot return home in that state either stay there itself, or be given a taxi to return to their place.
Well in short just a place which is really suitable for people who drink and also smoke. If they cannot stop themselves to smoke or drink, at least a place where they can do whatever they want without really disturbing others 😛
consequently there won’t be many such bars, making it less accessible to people. Also that kids won’t be allowed in such places. 🙂
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Good suggestions 😉
So, to sum up, the government just takes BS decisions in the name of “progress”.
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Like, er, free laptop (then tablet) to students, free meals to students, free transport for students and pensioners, bad weather warning system, new license plates, compulsory fire extinguishers, compulsory speed limiters for heavy vehicles, point-based demerit driving licenses, e-government, démoncratisation de l’économie, féraiy Desbro, sport de masse, Amul milk, Turkish flour, triple-shock / flat-tax / bumper crop / early harvest, Mauritius C’est Un Plaisir, STC+MK hedging, etc, etc, etc…?
If I may, such a HUGE pile of BS accumulated over the past few years reminds me of a diarrhea…
Harry Potter would have said:
“Fecalus Maximus!”
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Thing i noted in my short life is that, this government or that government or anything other government, they all do that crap, and people just do not do anything, because everyone seems to want a job in the government or want their sons or daughters to work in the government.
Come on isn’t it about high time we just end that “incentive” that they use by injecting HEAVY audits by the people in all governmental positions. Making governmental post so unstable that you might lose your job at the slightest signs of not working or stealing.
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general retailor!! to capve vend tou zafer ek sa 🙂
ayo.. banla pas vraiment prend ban decision dans l’interet public.. zotte geutte zotte poche personel avant.. prend ene decision to make it happen.. lerla zotte disguise li couma ene measure pou lepep..
lepep aC grand pou connE ki bon ki pas bon.. mo espere zotte enkor rapel sa en 2015!
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🙂 Hypocrite they are.
If they cared so much about your health, they should have banned everything, from cars to cigarettes & booze.
Oh i forgot also, sex might also contract you sexually transmissible diseases, well just like cigarettes and booze potentially can get you sick, maybe they should ban sex also!
What kind of lame excuse like “it is for your own health” can be? They could have atleast just said, guess what, we are nearing bankruptcy and we need money, panic or not, nothing can be done, pay us when you drink!
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It’s now that I read your comment lol.
As you said in your earlier comment to Yashvin, no matter which government c’est nous même quelque part nous contribuer à ça bannes situations la. Société seki li envie, gouvernement pou faire saem. Cause he wants votes. So you will have the illusion of being happy until you wake up. And when you wake up, it’s a real hangover! 😛 Panadol oubien café si pas pou marcher lerla ^^
We get screwed simply because we let ourselves get screwed. 😉
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I love phoenix beer so the little price change wont stop me from enjoying a cold one in the afternoon 😀 That is our routine when we go to Mauritius 🙂
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tap dolok dans li paC dans triolet enkor!
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Do you think if the price increase of alcoholic beverages suddenly gets increased, like say, a Rs.25 or Rs.50 per bottle for example will lead to riot in the country?
I think so, after all, they just try to slowly increase it without people noticing, they want tax, because otherwise, if they cared so much for people’s health, they would just have banned the product itself :p.
They tell you that you can’t distill your own alcohol and you can’t brew your own beer without paying them an expensive license fee and getting heavily inspected under the pretense that doing those in private is bad for your health! DAFUQ, it is my health, I decide what i do with it, government IS NOT people’s mom, neither are the people, children in need of a mom figure to tell them ‘this is bad for your health, don’t do it unless you can have rs.3 more’ [that’s a bad mom on top of that :s].
Some might argue that this fee is being used as a fund to treat you when you get sick one day, but hey, ever been to a visit to a public hospital in Mauritius?:
> There is rarely any form of politeness.
> The toilets smell bad,
> Everything seems like it has been uglified 10x
> The workers there tend to get over with you as soon as possible (ofcourse considering that those are governmental position usually they hire people they know rather than choosing people who want to do that job or who fits that job [thank god Doctors are not chosen this way]).
> Lunch time! Ah yes, if you passed out for a surgery and woke up some 20 minutes after lunch time, well, you gotta wait for tea time to get some snacks to eat or wait till dinner time!
Sometimes you might say, it is rather worthwhile to have saved all those extra rs.3 in a box each time you take a drink, so as if one day you get sick, you can just pay a doctor for personal service.
Note: The exception to the crappy hospital system is that many public hospital doctors have been exposed with a lot of cases, they actually are pretty experienced. But it is not like that extra Rs.3 is going to the doctors pocket for being a good doctor either, he probably will not get promoted etc because all those are decided by the ruling government.
+s3|v3n
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