A petition from oat milk lovers opposing a ‘lemonade tax’ will be submitted to the House of Representatives on Tuesday. They argue it is unfair that plant-based alternatives to milk are mentioned in the same way as sugary drinks such as cola, and are not exempt from tax increases, like cow’s milk.

The government wants to increase the tax on consumption of non-alcoholic drinks from January 1. Not only will sugary drinks like cola become more expensive, but plant-based alternatives to milk, such as oat milk, will also become 17 cents more expensive per liter.

This move is intended to encourage people to make healthier choices and at the same time will increase government coffers. Student Misty Mason thinks that’s unfair. he started application Stop taxing lemonade for milk alternatives. In it he wrote that it would be unfair to impose higher taxes on alternative milks, while cow’s milk and chocolate milk are exempt from these taxes.

Protein transitions

According to Mason, the lemonade tax also goes against the government’s ambition to implement a protein transition. This move will make it more difficult to encourage people to consume less animal protein and more vegetable protein. “Stopping this lemonade tax gives everyone a fair chance to get an affordable option for a climate- and animal-friendly alternative to cow’s milk,” Mason wrote.

The petition has been signed more than 40,000 times. Oat milk manufacturer Oatly supported the petition and even started a campaign. Billboards were hung in several places in Amsterdam with a photo of a carton of oat milk and the text: ‘This is not lemonade, says the cabinet’ and a QR code on the petition.

Proveg, an international organization committed to plant-based nutrition, also supports the campaign and asks its supporters to sign the petition. “This petition shows that anger towards tax increases on plant-based dairy products is not only present in health and nutrition organizations or NGOs, but is also very strong among the public,” said spokesman Joey Cramer.

parliamentary question

The Party for Animals previously opposed the move and submitted questions to parliament about it. According to the party, animal milk drinks – which are currently exempt from consumption tax – are no healthier than plant milk drinks and rice drinks. Therefore, they do not support calling the often sugar-free drink ‘lemonade’.

Maarten van Ooijen, Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport, disagrees with this. He said in March that the government was using the Fifth Wheel as a reference for healthy eating patterns. Dairy products will be included, but milk substitutes will not.

Illogical effects

Now Van Ooijen seems to have stepped back from his position. He acknowledged that making oat milk more expensive was an ‘undesirable, undesirable and even illogical effect’ of the lemonade tax, according to him. Faithfulness. However, he still wants to let tax increases continue for the time being. According to Van Ooijen, milk-based drinks cannot be included in a separate category so they are exempt from the tax increase.

According to the Party for Animals, this is possible. Therefore they proposed an amendment to the tax plan. This means that if a drink contains at least 2 percent ingredients such as nuts, oats or legumes, then the drink must be excluded. This week the House of Representatives will vote on the plan.

Cramer van Proveg views the upcoming amendments and debate with confidence. “We have seen in other countries that this is possible. For example, the UK has clearly stated that plant-based milk products are equivalent to cow’s milk, so they are not taxed. Most political parties also place sustainability on their political agenda and party programs. So I think a majority in parliament supporting the amendment is a reasonable thing.”

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